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

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Because when we really love someone, we do all we can for them, to please them, to show our love. It's not a commandment as in "YOU MUST LOVE ME!" But a "because" clause. BECAUSE you say you love...you'll show it by .....
Treating and thinking of others, just as we would wish for ourselves.
 
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Tayla

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Jesus says "If you love me you will keep my commandments" what exactly did Jesus mean by this?
He means that faith requires works, commandments. Faith without works is not faith.

Reading the gospels, you find his commandments.
 
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Grip Docility

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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?

Moses... the Pentateuch... aka The Law... is articulated in Deuteronomy 31:26 and again addressed in Hebrews.

The 613 are indivisible.

Galatians in Conjunction with James 2:10 shed light on the answer to your question.

Disagreement is understood on this matter... but Jesus states...

A New command I give you... only once.

This is the key.
 
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DamianWarS

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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?

did you consider reading the gospels to see what Jesus' commandments are? because it's all in there.
 
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Original Happy Camper

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Matthew 4:4
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

This would include what he told Moses to right down up on the Mountain.
 
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Yarddog

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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.
John 15:12 This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.
 
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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.

To add on to @Ken Rank (which he did a great job explaining), that scripture should also serve for us believers as a litmus test, to examine ourselves on whether or not we truly love God. Sometimes we can give a lot of lip service and see our actions as right, when its not in obedience to God's Word. Loving God is not a feeling, but it is shown through obedience and faith. So someone who truly loves God, their fruits will make that evident.

Jesus was clarifying what it means to love him - namely to submit to his Lordship. Since Jesus is Yahweh, Jesus' commandments are none other than the entire Law of God as expressed in the OT and NT. If we say that we love him while we do not obey his commands then we deceive ourselves.

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Matthew 4:4
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

This would include what he told Moses to right down up on the Mountain.
I loved these posts so much I just had to quote 'em. I hope you don't mind! :heart:

Praise Yahweh for such lovely children!
 
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The Times

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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?

No!

He was talking about being loyal to him......

All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. (John 14:23)

He is separating us from the love of this world, when he says....

The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. (John 14:7)

So there is a separation between the Spirit of God from the spirit of the world. The two commandments do not apply within the context of the spirit of this world.

19Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. 20When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love. (John 14:19-21)

Loving the world and the spirit of the world that drives that love, is in flagrant disobedience to Jesus, because the world does not accept the Spirit and rejects all of Christ's teachings.

He concludes by saying.....

27“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. (John 14:27)

This means that a Christian is at spiritual war with the world and cannot apply the two commandments to the world that is the enemy of Jesus Christ.

You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
 
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The commandments of Jesus are different to the commandments of Moses.

Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. (John 6:32)

Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. (Matthew 19:8)

"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. (Mark 10:5)

By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments. If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. (1 John 2:3-5)​

Notice in this final passage above John makes the connection between keeping the commandments of Jesus and keeping His word. From this connection we find the commandments of Jesus to not be "already given" in the past tense except for one commandment, the new law, which is a very general principle:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34)
We love others as Jesus loves us. We love others by believing in Him, and doing His Word -- not trying to follow a set of rules He gave when He was on the earth, this would just be like trying to follow the laws of Moses. No, we follow the commandments of Jesus -- that is, His actual words. Today. We listen with our spirit. We walk in the Spirit. His commandments are to believe in Him and love. And we know how to love because He first loves us. And we know how to love because His love is within us. The phrase "His commandments" is synonymous with "walking in the Spirit".

We must never replace heart to heart relational connection with a list.
 
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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?

I’ve always taken this to mean obedience to everything he had taught, up to that point and afterwards. I think we are to take everything Jesus said, and the example of his actions, as something to be followed and emulated, e.g his conversation with Peter on the beach and his washing of the disciples feet are models of how Christian leaders should view their vocation. There are plenty of other examples
 
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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.
.
To add to this good post above; ...

ROMANS.7:12 says that God's Law is good for His people. But most Gentiles lead lawless lives, wrt God's Law or Moses Law. So, at ACTS.15:24-29, God only requires new Gentile Christians to begin their born-again lives of the Spirit by keeping 4 simple and non-burdensome laws of Moses.(cf; 1CORINTHIANS.3:1-3) Thereafter, they should slowly learn to keep as many non-burdensome laws of Moses as possible. This is for their own good.
... IOW, God has exempted new Gentile Christians from any law of Moses which is a burden, eg circumcision and kosher foods. They are not exempted from any law which is not a burden, esp morality laws, eg the Ten Commandments(EXODUS.20), DEUT.18:9-14, LEV.10:9 & 18:22, etc.

In comparison, new Jewish Christians are required by God to continue to keep Moses Law, as many laws as possible, because it is not a burden to them.

Those "Christians" who wantonly or ignorantly commit sins/evil-deeds/law-breaking by breaking Moses Law risk losing their salvation while suffering horribly for their sins, eg by cursing/blaspheming God/Jesus and die, like the wife of Job.(JOB.2:8) Be warned by DEUT.28:15, JOB, 1COR.5:5 & 11:30, 1JOHN.5:16-19, HEBREWS.10:26-31, 1COR.6:9-11, REV.22:12-15, ie sins/evil-deeds/law-breaking have consequences - some may lead to a horrible early death(= risk losing salvation/faith) and some may not, eg convicted murderers are usually executed and traffic offenders only have to pay a fine.

Being saved from hell after death rests solely on faith/trust/belief in Jesus as the Christ/Messiah/Savior on the Cross.(JOHN.3:16, GALATIANS.2:16, eg LUKE.23:43, ROMANS.5:12)

The perfect Christians are those who keep God's Law, either partially or fully, and believe in Jesus Christ = gain a good and long life on earth, and be saved from hell(= go to heaven) when they die.(cf; MATTHEW.19:23)
 
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Emmy

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Dear mmbattlestar. What does Jesus mean when He says: If you love me you will keep my Commandments. What are His Commandments? In Matthew 22: 35-40: Jesus tells us: The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy hearts, with all thy souls, and with all thy minds. The second is like it: love thy neighbour as thysyelves. In verse 40 we are told: On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. What does Jesus mean? Jesus died for us, now Jesus lives for us. What does that mean?
The Bible tells us: Give up all selfish and unloving words, love and help all who need us. Jesus is our Saviour, and Jesus will lead us back to God, our Heavenly Father. n Matthew 7: 7-10: we are told: Ask and you shall receive. We ask for love and compassion, for joy and peace, then we thank God and share all between our neighbour. our neighbour is all we know and all we meet. God is Love, and God wants loving sons and daughters. Jesus will lead us back to God. Love will drive all demons and Satan himself, away from us. Jesus meant that God is Love, and when we follow God`s Love, God will Bless us greatly. I say this with love, mmbattlestar. Greetings from Emmy, sister in Christ.
 
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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?

No. He was talking about all of them. Throughout his ministry Jesus gave rules, principles, laws of conduct. At the end he said that if you love him you'll do as he said on all those things. He also asked "What good does it do you to say you follow me if you don't keep my commandments."

What was important? All of it. Jesus said all the things he said because he believed them and thought they were important. If you follow Jesus, you agree, and try to do everything he said to do, on every subject on which he gave an opinion and said to do something.

What else COULD he mean? Nothing else would make any sense.
 
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Ken Rank

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John 15:12 This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.
Yes, and as he also stated, love God and love neighbor are that which the ENTIRE Law and Prophets hang. So, when we combine both verses, the one you shared and the one I shared, we can see that as our living model he showed us how to walk in obedience out of love for God and neighbor.
 
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Ken Rank

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To add to this good post above; ...

ROMANS.7:12 says that God's Law is good for His people. But most Gentiles lead lawless lives, wrt God's Law or Moses Law. So, at ACTS.15:24-29, God only requires new Gentile Christians to begin their born-again lives of the Spirit by keeping 4 simple and non-burdensome laws of Moses.(cf; 1CORINTHIANS.3:1-3) Thereafter, they should slowly learn to keep as many non-burdensome laws of Moses as possible. This is for their own good.
... IOW, God has exempted new Gentile Christians from any law of Moses which is a burden, eg circumcision and kosher foods. They are not exempted from any law which is not a burden, esp morality laws, eg the Ten Commandments(EXODUS.20), DEUT.18:9-14, LEV.10:9 & 18:22, etc.

In comparison, new Jewish Christians are required by God to continue to keep Moses Law, as many laws as possible, because it is not a burden to them.

Those "Christians" who wantonly or ignorantly commit sins/evil-deeds/law-breaking by breaking Moses Law risk losing their salvation while suffering horribly for their sins, eg by cursing/blaspheming God/Jesus and die, like the wife of Job.(JOB.2:8) Be warned by DEUT.28:15, JOB, 1COR.5:5 & 11:30, 1JOHN.5:16-19, HEBREWS.10:26-31, 1COR.6:9-11, REV.22:12-15, ie sins/evil-deeds/law-breaking have consequences - some may lead to a horrible early death(= risk losing salvation/faith) and some may not, eg convicted murderers are usually executed and traffic offenders only have to pay a fine.

Being saved from hell after death rests solely on faith/trust/belief in Jesus as the Christ/Messiah/Savior on the Cross.(JOHN.3:16, GALATIANS.2:16, eg LUKE.23:43, ROMANS.5:12)

The perfect Christians are those who keep God's Law, either partially or fully, and believe in Jesus Christ = gain a good and long life on earth, and be saved from hell(= go to heaven) when they die.(cf; MATTHEW.19:23)
Isn't it interesting, or perhaps ironic, that Christianity considers God's law a burden and yet John clearly wrote that God's law is not a burden.
 
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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?

Paul says if you love your neighbor you fulfill the (moral) law. You will not murder, not commit adultery, not steal, not covet, etc. (See Romans 13:8-10). In fact, the Parable of the Good Samaritan was told as a part of somebody asking, "Who is my neighbor?" in regards to the Second Greatest Commandment to "Love your neighbor." This means we are to help and love the poor as a part of loving our neighbor. In fact, Matthew 25 shows that those believers who did not help the poor in this life did not hear happy words from Jesus. So keeping Christ's commandments is more than just a few here and there. Christ's commands are ALL of the commands that come from Jesus and His followers. For even Paul says that what he had written should be regarded as the Lord's commandments.
 
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Anyways, to answer the question of the Thread Title: True love is proven true by obedience. It's like a husband who says he loves his wife, but he refuses to get a job to help her, refuses to help around the house, and he refuses to lift a finger to do anything for her.

So love is proven true by walking the talk.

Loving God involves denying ourselves and following Jesus (i.e. obeying Him).

24 "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
(Matthew 16:24-26).
 
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Isn't it interesting, or perhaps ironic, that Christianity considers God's law a burden and yet John clearly wrote that God's law is not a burden.
.
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.
 
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