What did Jesus mean when he said "If you love me you will keep my commandments?"

[Bible Believing Gentiles]

In John 14:15 Jesus says "If you love me you will keep my commandments" what exactly did Jesus mean by this? What are the commandments of Jesus? Are they the two commandments he gave at the last supper? To love God with all your heart soul and mind and to love others as Jesus loved you? It seems there's more than just to love God because Jesus would have said something like if you love me you will love others as well as me. John says in 1 john that Jesus's commandments were to believe in Jesus and to love others. So are those the commandments Jesus was talking about in John 14:15?

To understand this quote from the Bible, you need a little more context than taking a quote from the Bible and automatically assuming it is written to you to apply to your own doctrine. Though some of it can be.

But first, we have to figure out when and where we are. Jesus had just finished washing the Disciples feet, and having His last supper. Afterwards, He went out into the night air to offer some comfort to them concerning some questions that they had, comforting them about His impending death with promises of His return, and the gift of the Holy Spirit to come afterwards

Joh 14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Joh 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

Joh 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Joh 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
Joh 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Joh 14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Joh 14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.



Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Joh 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Joh 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
Joh 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Joh 14:22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Joh 14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
Joh 14:25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
Joh 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Joh 14:28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
Joh 14:29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.
Joh 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
Joh 14:31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.


To get a better understanding of which commandments of Jesus apply to your walk with the Holy Spirit, refer to Romans - Philemon

 

[Myychael]

In John 14:15 Jesus says "If you love me you will keep my commandments" what exactly did Jesus mean by this? What are the commandments of Jesus? Are they the two commandments he gave at the last supper? To love God with all your heart soul and mind and to love others as Jesus loved you? It seems there's more than just to love God because Jesus would have said something like if you love me you will love others as well as me. John says in 1 john that Jesus's commandments were to believe in Jesus and to love others. So are those the commandments Jesus was talking about in John 14:15?

Dwight L Moody wrote this after attending one of Henry Morehouse teaching in England on JOHN 3:16 the teaching went on for weeks. I hope that
You all will appreciate this I enjoyed all your posts Morehouse preached and taught on this a few days till the audience got the meaning Paul said be followers of me as I am of Christ when I read the Gospels
And New Testament and the men and women therein it kind of makes me feel inadequate at times
Then I have never been one to quit so I jump back on the road and keep trying
And thank you mmbattlestar this should exhort us to show more love and appreciation to our brothers
And sisters here on this Forum and in our lives. And Moody says

I never knew, up to that time, that God loved me so much. This heart of mine began to thaw out. I could not keep back the tears. I just drank it in. I tell you there is one thing that draws above everything else in the world and that is love. I took up that word love and I do not know how many weeks I spent in studying the passages in which it occurs, till at last I could not help loving people. I had been feeding on love so long that I was anxious to do everybody good I came in contact with. I got full of it. It ran out my fingers. You take up the subject of love in the Bible, you will get so full of it that all you have to do is open your lips and a flood of the love of God flows out. The churches would soon be filled if outsiders could find that people in them loved them when they came. This love draws sinners. We must win them to us first. Then we can win them to Christ. We must get people to love us and then turn them over to Christ. If you haven't got love in your heart, (Moody said), you should throw your hope to the four winds and go and get a better one. There is nothing greater than the love of God."

I have been doing a word study on GOD’S Grace and or Grace I am not through with it I find it beyond definition.Thanks for reading

 

[Ken Rank]

.
It is a great burden to require a new Gentile Christian man to become circumcised, eg GENESIS.34:25, ie he will be physically incapacitated for about 1 month of needed healing and nursing. Very few can afford to do this, ie keep the law of circumcision.
... It will be like "hell-on-earth" if he 'accidentally' got sexually stimulated with an erection or have a morning 'glory' or wet dream.

OTOH, it is alright for babies of married Gentile Christians to be circumcised, like the Jews as per Moses Law. Circumcision also brings health benefits and a desensitized penis = less lustful, besides being a memorial about Abraham's covenant with God. That is why uncircumcised China and India have an over-population problem.

The argument in that day (and I don't have the time to fully show this today so I will just share this much) was that it wasn't that circumcision was done away with, it was that the idea of circumcision unto salvation, i.e. circumcision as an initial step in your walk with God was simply not viewed as realistic. There were two Pharisaical schools in that day and one of them taught basically that all that was expected of a new proselyte was what is listed in the Acts 15 letters. Circumcision and anything else would come later, once one had time to learn and grow. The other group took the same position but ADDED that one must know all 613 commandments up front AND that they had to be circumcised immediately. Jewish halacha... Jewish law... which is based on but often added to God's law... took the harder position and that is why we see those in Acts 15:1-2 crying for new Christians to be circumcised immediately. The Acts 15 Council simply reversed a bad 50 year old decision and didn't make a decree that those 4 things we all a gentile must accept (after all, those 4 things don't even include loving and serving on God) but rather that they act as a starting point with the expectation that one would become a disciple (student) and learn the rest. That is why the letter ends with "and Moses is taught every Sabbath in the synagogues." The word "Moses" in that sense was an idiomatic reference to the Torah, the instructions or directions of God.

 

[Aldebaran]

In John 14:15 Jesus says "If you love me you will keep my commandments" what exactly did Jesus mean by this?

I'd like to know what this would include. When he says, "if you love me", does he also mean that if you want to keep the salvation He gives us when we turn to Him? I've always been under the impression that the gift of salvation is God's gift to us because He loves us, rather than because we love Him. I can honestly say that I don't love God as I should. I don't think I ever could. I always hate thinking that I may be on the verge of losing my salvation because I'm not following Jesus's commandments well enough, and therefore don't love him enough.

 

[Ken Rank]

I'd like to know what this would include. When he says, "if you love me", does he also mean that if you want to keep the salvation He gives us when we turn to Him? I've always been under the impression that the gift of salvation is God's gift to us because He loves us, rather than because we love Him. I can honestly say that I don't love God as I should. I don't think I ever could. I always hate thinking that I may be on the verge of losing my salvation because I'm not following Jesus's commandments well enough, and therefore don't love him enough.

To the Hebrew especially at that time, love was not a warm fuzzy expressed in words but rather a conviction (tied to the emotional warm fuzzy) that manifests itself in ACTION. If you love me DO......

 

[Aldebaran]

To the Hebrew especially at that time, love was not a warm fuzzy expressed in words but rather a conviction (tied to the emotional warm fuzzy) that manifests itself in ACTION. If you love me DO......

Even then, my concerns are still the same. I don't always "do".

 

[Blade]

I think we also need to back up here. I can't speak for all but.. when He found me.. when I was saved.. I was not in love with Him.. were you? For me.. who can I love someone I dont know. The 12 knew Him.. and loved Him. They were with Him day and night for 3+years. Were you? KNOW Him do you?

To be saved is John 3:16.. who so ever believes. Who ever calls on the name of the lord shall be saved. But.. LOVE HIM when you got saved? You never knew Him. For me salvation was never has never been OBEY HIS WORD or else. He to this very day..never said that. When I when to Him about how I felt about all the sin I did and DO.. He taught me right then..the Sweet sweet Holy Spirit asked me what "righteousness" was.. and then asked me "how do you get it".. I believe in Jesus.. and the Father sees me how?

So.. as I got to know Him.. and this love that.. you can just close your eyes and see His eyes.. and this love.. theres no catch to it.. and its ENDLESS. So this love...for me.. it comes from Him.. and now I LOVE HIM. NOW I want to keep His every word. It is...yet I never see it as a commandment.

 

[Open Heart]

In John 14:15 Jesus says "If you love me you will keep my commandments" what exactly did Jesus mean by this? What are the commandments of Jesus? Are they the two commandments he gave at the last supper? To love God with all your heart soul and mind and to love others as Jesus loved you? It seems there's more than just to love God because Jesus would have said something like if you love me you will love others as well as me. John says in 1 john that Jesus's commandments were to believe in Jesus and to love others. So are those the commandments Jesus was talking about in John 14:15?

It's very simple. Talk is cheap. We have to walk the walk. For Jews, he meant to keep the Torah. All 613 laws can be divided into loving God or loving your neighbor. For gentiles it can be summed up as following Natural Law -- the details are discussed in the NT.

 

[Emmy]

Dear mmbattlestar. What did Jesus mean? It is simple and straightforward. In Matthew 22 35-40 Jesus tells us: The two first Commandments say it all. Love God with heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbour as yourself. God always comes first, God made us. (our neighbour mean all we know and all we meet) The Bible tells us: love and treat all we know or meet, love and teat them as we would love to be treated. The Bible tells us; Love God and love thy neighbour. Love is very strong and very lasting. Love will send Satan and his followers, fleeing. Love is very catching, and love will conquer all. Let us give up all pretending, and false behaviour, God does NOT want it, God wants loving and caring sons and daughters. Before we realise we will be the loving and caring men and women which God wants us to be. Let us give up all false behaviour, and be God`s sons and daughters, as God wanted us from the very beginning. Ask and you shall receive, that is a promise, let us ask God, then thank God and share all love and caring, all joy and peace, with our neighbour. God WANTS loving and caring sons and daughters. Why not give it all a try? Jesus will help and guide us, and love is very catching. ( Matthew 7:7=10) I say this all with love, mmbattlestar. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[Christophe-Stiles]

In John 14:15 Jesus says "If you love me you will keep my commandments" what exactly did Jesus mean by this? What are the commandments of Jesus? Are they the two commandments he gave at the last supper? To love God with all your heart soul and mind and to love others as Jesus loved you? It seems there's more than just to love God because Jesus would have said something like if you love me you will love others as well as me. John says in 1 john that Jesus's commandments were to believe in Jesus and to love others. So are those the commandments Jesus was talking about in John 14:15?

Jesus is so clever always all through the New Testament ! He makes the point even with the Old Testament... Should one believe his truth ?
And love against falling into temptation, should this be a possible great fact ever ?
Pure hopefulness for each day sanctified with conscience might join up the mysterious relation one has with faith as with what is left in family holiness.

 

[EastCoastRemnant]

He didn't give the 2 commandments at the last supper... he repeated already existing commandments at the last supper. He also stated that ALL the Law and Prophets hang on those two which doesn't mean those 2 negate the rest, it means those two define (or reveal the depth of) the rest.

Yeshua said He spoke the words of His Father and thus "my commandments" are the Father's commandments. Thus I personally believe He means the Law, the collection of commandments, the do's and don'ts. Obviously there are some things we can't do living in the nations without a Temple... and there are some things that one could argue are fulfilled. But the basic do's and don'ts... from not stealing to serving only God, from honoring parents to not engaging in homosexual or extra marital sex (and more) would be among them.

What about the 4th Commandment, the seventh day Sabbath?

 

[EastCoastRemnant]

Jesus actually gave quite a few "commandments". There are various lists with varying degrees of accuracy. Here is a list of 31: What commandments did Jesus give us? | Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry

I have a list of over 40 on a vinyl clad page at home. It's similar to the list above, but a bit larger.

And it really is wise to keep His commandments. Love is a decision. Love is an action.

There is a difference between commandments and teachings... yes, the teachings or principles you listed are in agreement with the spirit of the covenant Commandments... the Decalogue given at Mt Sinai, which were never rescinded by Christ.

The first four give the framework for our love to God and the last six is the framework for our love for each other. Jesus expounded on the Law but this in no way nullified it or changed it. In fact, Jesus said that He didn't come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it. In teaching us the finer points of what the Law (letter) was intended as (spirit), Jesus indeed fulfilled the Law in exalting it as was originally intended, but greatly misunderstood by the Jews.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

I'd like to know what this would include. When he says, "if you love me", does he also mean that if you want to keep the salvation He gives us when we turn to Him? I've always been under the impression that the gift of salvation is God's gift to us because He loves us, rather than because we love Him. I can honestly say that I don't love God as I should. I don't think I ever could. I always hate thinking that I may be on the verge of losing my salvation because I'm not following Jesus's commandments well enough, and therefore don't love him enough.

Thank you... That's well put description of the dilemma many people find themselves in due to the false teachers all around us, that almost everyone grew up with as well.
This forum is a huge gathering of many things contrary to Scripture which should be obvious to anyone who has visited over 30 minutes and read the conflicting threads and posts.
The truth is simple.
It is just rarely heard.
Oh, it is clearly written in Scripture.... exactly as Scripture says....
it is men who messed up.

 

[Shempster]

In John 14:15 Jesus says "If you love me you will keep my commandments" what exactly did Jesus mean by this? What are the commandments of Jesus? Are they the two commandments he gave at the last supper? To love God with all your heart soul and mind and to love others as Jesus loved you? It seems there's more than just to love God because Jesus would have said something like if you love me you will love others as well as me. John says in 1 john that Jesus's commandments were to believe in Jesus and to love others. So are those the commandments Jesus was talking about in John 14:15?

He is saying If you love me....that is, you love the WAY THAT I AM, the WAY I THINK and the WAY I ACT, then you will naturally do likewise!
His commandments are not a list of things that he likes and dislikes. They portray what Jesus (and therefore the Father) are like and how they would behave.
Ponder on that a few seconds.

Jesus gave a number of commandments but a fairly concise list can be found in Matthew 5 & 6. Elsewhere, Jesus explains that loving God with all our heart mind and soul which includes other people will actually cover all of the standards he gives us in Matthew.
He is trying to explain that being like him makes us "one" with him and therefore "one" with the Father because all three think and act the same.

This is the meaning of the gospel if you can grasp it.

BlessUp

 

[YouAreAwesome]

In John 14:8-31 Jesus correlates commandments with: Keeping His words, keeping His sayings, listening to the teachings of the Comforter just as Jesus listened to the Father for His commandments.

If ye love me, keep my commandments.

if a man love me, he will keep my words

He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do
​

It's an easy mistake to make reading in the english language, to see the word "commandments" and think it is a list. Rather, commandments in this passage refers to active listening to the Holy Ghost just as Jesus listened to the Father.

 

[SBC]

What did Jesus mean when he said "If you love me you will keep my commandments?"

For humans, Love is an emotion.
Jesus is being explicit, on HOW a human can reveal His Love for Jesus....TO WHOM?

To Jesus and To any other human.

By a human SAYING, He loves Jesus? No.

Rather, Expressly by a human revealing their thoughts, by their behavior that exhibits them DOING what Jesus commanded.

If humans require knowledge "specific", as examples, to questions, of What about this situation, or what about that situation....
Jesus gives a WHOLE list of "specific" things that are, according to Him, acceptable behavior, that one can learn "behavior", before they learn "understanding".

Or, a more seasoned Convert, should have sought and received the understanding of Jesus'
greatest commandments that are inclusive of all other commandments.

Matt 22
[36] Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
[37] Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
[38] This is the first and great commandment.
[39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
[40] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

IOW ~
All your thoughts, of your life (flesh body) in your mind
All your thoughts, of your soul (Gods temporary or permanent given life), in your soul
All your thoughts, of your spirit (Gods permanent given life), in your heart

are commanded to Be Love and Expressed ~ In Love ~ BY thought ~ BY behavior ~
Always FIRST toward God ~ Always SECONDLY toward mankind.

Now HOW precisely can a human....CONTROL thoughts that seem to pop into their MIND?....
or CONTROL thoughts that are influenced by what they inadvertently SEE and HEAR?

BY ONE WAY ~ Gods WAY ~ By Calling on His Name, His Power, to Supersede, and put away, put behind you, what is not pleasing to Him to affect you.

God Bless,
SBC

 

[Neostarwcc]

Thanks for the replies guys I think I get it now. Now I have another question I don't want to make a new topic about. Is obeying Jesus's commandments a requirement for salvation? I mean, it's clear from scripture that we are saved through faith in the gospel. So obeying the commandments of God should be an optional thing that we will be rewarded in the next life for doing. But, is it a requirement for salvation? Like say for example can a person not love or forgive others and still be saved? Maybe not because Jesus says if we don't forgive others their sins God won't forgive us. It takes forgiveness to be saved don't it? But Ephesians 2:8-9 does say that we are saved by faith and not by works. And Jesus says in John 6:39-40 that he won't lose a single believer that God the father gives to him. So.. I do. Is it a requirement for salvation?

 

[discipler7]

Thanks for the replies guys I think I get it now. Now I have another question I don't want to make a new topic about. Is obeying Jesus's commandments a requirement for salvation? I mean, it's clear from scripture that we are saved through faith in the gospel. So obeying the commandments of God should be an optional thing that we will be rewarded in the next life for doing. But, is it a requirement for salvation? Like say for example can a person not love or forgive others and still be saved? Maybe not because Jesus says if we don't forgive others their sins God won't forgive us. It takes forgiveness to be saved don't it? But Ephesians 2:8-9 does say that we are saved by faith and not by works. And Jesus says in John 6:39-40 that he won't lose a single believer that God the father gives to him. So.. I do. Is it a requirement for salvation?

.
No, but obeying God's commandments/Law/Word is the evidence of someone having been truly saved through faith in Jesus Christ, eg 1CORINTHIANS.6:9-11 and REVELATION.22:12-15.

A good tree bears good fruits or good deeds and a bad tree bears bad/evil fruits or evil-deeds. "You will know them by their fruits". (MATTHEW.7:16, GALATIANS.5:19)
... It's how we differentiate between the wheat and the chaff/tares or the sheep and the goats or true prophets/pastors and false prophets/pastors.

 

[Neostarwcc]

.
No, but obeying God's commandments/Law/Word is the evidence of someone having been truly saved through faith in Jesus Christ, eg 1CORINTHIANS.6:9-11 and REVELATION.22:12-15.

A good tree bears good fruits or good deeds and a bad tree bears bad/evil fruits or evil-deeds. "You will know them by their fruits". MATTHEW.7:16, GALATIANS.5:19)
... It's how we differentiate between the wheat and the chaff/tares or the sheep and the goats or true prophets/pastors and false prophets/pastors.

That's a good point. Maybe I will open a separate thread about this sometime today. Because, I'm curious what everybody has to say on the subject. But yes, someone who has truly been saved would want to obey Jesus's teachings naturally. Because Jesus did say "If you loved me you would keep my commandments". I think I'll put that verse in my separate thread too.

 

[Aldebaran]

That's a good point. Maybe I will open a separate thread about this sometime today. Because, I'm curious what everybody has to say on the subject. But yes, someone who has truly been saved would want to obey Jesus's teachings naturally. Because Jesus did say "If you loved me you would keep my commandments". I think I'll put that verse in my separate thread too.

I've been concerned with the same things as you are. I'll look forward to seeing your future thread.