If ye love me, keep my commandments.

[John 14:15 AV] from various sources

If ye love me keep my commandments Do not show your love by grief at my departure merely; or by profession, but by obedience. Keep my commandments - This is the only proper evidence of love to Jesus, for mere profession is no proof of love; but that love for him which leads us to do all his will, to love each other, to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, and to follow him through evil report and through good report, is true attachment. The evidence which we have that a child loves its parents is when that child is willing, without hesitation, gainsaying, or complaining, to do all that the parent requires him to do. So the disciples of Christ are required to show that they are attached to him supremely by yielding to all his requirements, and by patiently doing his will in the face of ridicule and opposition, 1 John 5:2-3. If ye love me, keep my commandments Do not be afflicted at the thought of my being separated from you: the most solid proof ye can give of your attachment to and affection for me is to keep my commandments. This I shall receive as a greater proof of your affection than your tears. If ye love me, keep my commandments.. Not that Christ doubted of the love of his disciples to him; but he argues from it to their observance of his precepts, seeing ye do love me; as all do who are born again, who have had any spiritual sight of him, of his glory, suitableness, and fulness; who believe in him, and have received from him; who have had his love shed abroad in their hearts, having enjoyed communion with him, and know the relation he

stands in to them; these love him above all others, and all of him, and that belong to him, unfeignedly, and in the sincerity of their souls, as did the disciples; and since they professed to love, and did love him, as they ought to do, he exhorts them, saying, If ye love me, keep my commandments Christ is Lord over his people, as he is the Creator and Redeemer of them, and as he is an head and husband to them, and as such he has a right to issue out his commands, and enjoin a regard unto them; and these are peculiarly "his", as distinct from, though not in opposition to, or to the exclusion of, his Father's commands; such as the new commandment of loving one another, and the ordinances of baptism, and the Lord's supper, which are to be observed and kept as Christ has ordered them, constantly, in faith, and with a view to his glory. Keep () [The best texts read , YE WILL KEEP. Lay up in your hearts and preserve by careful watching] My commandments ( ). Literally, the commandments which are mine. If ye love me, keep my commandments. He loves Christ rightly who obeys his commandment: and because obedience to Christ is accompanied with an infinite type and amount of miseries, although he is absent in body, yet he comforts his own with the present power of the Holy Spirit, whom the world despises, because it does not know him. If ye love me, keep my commandments. Keeping the commandments will be the result, IF we truly love him. The Revised Version gives the true idea: If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. Obedience is the fruit of love. He that does not keep Christs commandments

does not love him. He that advocates NOT keeping Christs commandments does not KNOW Christ. If ye love me, keep my commandments - Immediately after faith he exhorts to love and good works. If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, &c. This connection is designed to teach that the proper temple for the indwelling Spirit of Jesus is a heart filled with that love to Him which lives actively for Him and according to whatever he has commanded, and this was the fitting preparation for the promised gift. If you love me, keep my commandments. Keeping the commandments of Christ is put here for the practice of godliness in general, and for the faithful and diligent discharge of their office as apostles in particular. When Christ is comforting them, he bids them keep his commandments; for we must not expect comfort but in the way of duty. The same word ( ) signifies both to exhort and to comfort. When they were in care what they should do, now that their Master was leaving them, and what would become of them now, he bids them keep his commandments, and then nothing could come amiss to them. When Christ has given them precious promises, of the answer of their prayers and the coming of the Comforter, he lays down this as a limitation of the promises, "Provided you keep my commandments, out of pure love to me." Christ will not be an advocate for any but those that will be ruled and advised by him as their counsel and that will be obedient to his commandments. Christ not only proposes such things to them as were the matter of their comfort, but here promises to send the

Spirit, whose office it should be to be their Comforter, to impress these things upon them. If you love me, keep my commandments. Keeping the commandments of Christ is here put for the practice of godliness in general, and for the faithful and diligent discharge of their office as apostles in particular. When Christ is comforting them, he bids them keep his commandments; for we must not expect comfort but in the way of duty. The same word (parakaleo) signifies both to exhort and to comfort. When they were in care what they should do, now that their Master was leaving them, and what would become of them now, he bids them keep his commandments, and then nothing could come amiss to them. In difficult times our care concerning the events of the day should be swallowed up in a care concerning the duty of the day. When they were showing their love to Christ by their grieving to think of his departure, and the sorrow which filled their hearts upon the foresight of that, he bids them, if they would show their love to him, do it, not by these weak and feminine passions, but by their conscientious care to perform their trust, and by a universal obedience to his commands; this is better than sacrifice, better than tears. Lovest thou me? Feed my lambs. A clear call to duty of action, not to neutral belief and inactivity. Feed my lambs, is a call to performance, not a call to sit idly and contemplate. When Christ has given them precious promises, of the answer of their prayers and the coming of the Comforter, he lays down this as a limitation of the promises:

"Provided you keep my commandments, from a principle of love to me." Christ will not be an advocate for any but those that will be ruled and advised by him as their counsel. Follow the conduct of the Spirit, and you shall have the comfort of the Spirit. Only those that love him and keep his commandments will have the Comforter to be with them. There is no minimalist detour to avoid keeping the commandments of Christ as he himself says with such compelling clarity that a wayfarer even though he be a fool need err therein. IF ye love me, [you will] keep my commandments! Who, and by what authority, will any deny Christs call to action?