If ye love me, keep my commandments.
What does John 14:15 mean?
Whatever we ask in Christ's name, that shall be for our good, and suitable to our state, he shall give it to us. To ask in Christ's name, is to plead his merit and intercession, and to depend upon that plea.
Key themes
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Keep this verse inside John 14:15-17 and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on John 14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments. If ye love me - 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.
Context in John 14
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John 14 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as farewell discourse. John presents Jesus in contemplative, symbolic, and theological richness as the Word, Lamb, Light, Bread, Shepherd, Resurrection, Way, Vine, and Son. Read this chapter with the wider themes of incarnation, life, and light in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
Related topics
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What Scripture teaches about obeying God, the relationship between faith and obedience, and the blessings that follow faithfulness.
A guided collection of passages on God’s love, neighbor-love, steadfast covenant love, and the shape of love in Christian life.
Passages on trusting God, receiving Christ, persevering without sight, and the relation between faith and lived obedience.
Passages on asking, persistence, confession, dependence, and the way prayer shapes Christian life and attention.
Passages on the nature of truth, honesty, deception, the word of God as truth, and Jesus' claim to be the truth.