LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS JESUS HAVE LOVED YOU.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN   

INTRODUCTION

This is the “eagle” Gospel. It soars into the empyrean with steady wing and searching gaze. The Church has attributed it with consistent tradition to the hand of the Apostle John whom Jesus loved John 13:23. The style and spirit and method of thought are so evidently his. There was, indeed, no one else in the first century who could have written it and remained unknown.
Clement of Alexandria says that it was written by the Apostle at the earnest solicitation of his friends; and that he was led by the Spirit of God to compose a spiritual Gospel, which would unfold much that the Synoptic Gospels had omitted.
It was probably written during the last decade of the first century, at Ephesus. It is evident that Jerusalem had already fallen, and that Gnostic heresy was already rife; and it fell to the lot of the Apostle to give this last conclusive demonstration that Jesus was the Son of God, Joh_20:31. It is interesting to study the development of the strife between faith and unbelief, as they became more and more pronounced in respect to the person of our Lord.
F.B. MEYER

IV. THE WITNESS OF JESUS’ SUFFERINGS, DEATH AND RESURRECTION,

The true vine
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 


65. What does it mean to be called “friends” of Jesus?

I Am the True Vine

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
These things I command you, that ye love one another.

65. What does it mean to be called “friends” of Jesus?

“I Have Called You Friends”

We must estimate the Father’s love to Jesus before we can measure His love to us. We are told to love one another with the same love, but enabling power is needed, or we can never fulfill His command. Our love is not like His, unless it is prepared to sacrifice itself even unto death. Not servants, but friends! The first stage is that of the bondservant, who does what he is told, not because he understands, but because he has no option. Friendship involves obedience on our part; and on His part the making known of the deep things of God. Even the Son learned obedience by the things which He suffered. It is by implicit obedience alone that we can pass into the closer intimacy of friendship and ultimately of sonship. There is no limit to what the Father will do for those whom His Son calls “friends.”

By Philippus Schutte

New Covenant Israelite! "And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;  Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee."  Rom 11:17 -18