John 15:17
in John 15This is My command to you: Love one another.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
These things I command you, that ye may love one another.
KJV
These things I command you, that ye love one another.
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This verse in John 15
Commentary
14 notes on this verseA commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1869)
The passage before us opens with a renewed exhortation to brotherly love. For the third time in this discourse our Lord thinks it needful to press this precious grace on the attention of His disciples. Rare, indeed, must genuine charity be, when such repeated mention of it is made! In the present instance the connection in which it stands should be carefully observed. Christian love is placed in contrast to the hatred of the world. We are shown first, in this passage, what true Christians must expect to meet in this world—hatred and persecution.
This site's exposition
I appointed you to go and bear fruit
on John 15:16-17
The choosing runs from Jesus, and the appointment with it. They go out to bear fruit that lasts past the branch that bore it. The prayer promise is tied to that fruit, and the command to love one another closes the unit.
This site's exposition
This is My command to you
This is the third time in the discourse that Jesus presses love among the disciples. He spoke of laying down His life and of choosing them to lead them into friendship, never to reproach them. The world's hatred follows at once.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
(Tract. lxxxvii. 1) Our Lord had said, I have ordained that ye should walk, and bring forth fruit. Love is this fruit. Wherefore He proceeds: These things I command you, that ye love one another. (Gal. 5:22) Hence the Apostle saith: The fruit of the Spirit is love; and enumerates all other graces as springing from this source. Well then doth our Lord commend love, as if it were the only thing commanded: seeing that without it nothing can profit, with it nothing be wanting, whereby a man is made good.
In the Gospel lesson which precedes this one, the Lord had said: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and appointed 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." On these words you remember that we have already discoursed, as the Lord enabled us. But here, that is, in the succeeding lesson which you have heard read, He says: "These things I command you, that ye love one another." And thereby we are to understand that this is our fruit, of which He had said, "I have chosen you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain." And what He subjoined, "That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you," He will certainly give us if we love one another; seeing that this very thing He has also given us, in choosing us when we had no fruit, because we had chosen Him not; and appointing us that we should bring forth fruit,-that is, that we should love one another,-a fruit that we cannot have apart from Him, just as the branches can do nothing apart from the vine. Our fruit, therefore, is charity, which the apostle explains to be, "Out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned." So love we one another, and so love we God. For it would be with no true love that we loved one another, if we loved not God. For every one loves his neighbor as himself if he loves God; and if he loves not God, he loves not himself. For on these two commandments of love hang all the law and the prophets: this is our fruit. […]
"These things I command you, that ye love one another." That is, "It is not to upbraid, that I tell you that I lay down My life for you, or that I ran to meet you, but in order to lead you into friendship." Then, since the being persecuted and insulted by the many, was a grievous and intolerable thing, and enough to humble even a lofty soul, therefore, after having said ten thousand things first, Christ entered upon this matter. Having first smoothed their minds, He thus proceedeth to these points, showing that these things too were for their exceeding advantage, as He had also shown that the others were. For as He had told them that they ought not to grieve, but rather to rejoice, "because I go to the Father," (since He did this not as deserting but as greatly loving them,) so here also He showeth that they ought to rejoice, not grieve.
The Medieval Church2 voices
2029 These things I command you so that you will love one another. Here he is giving the reason for what he has said. Someone might ask: Why did Christ tell them all these things? So our Lord answers, These things I command you so …
Lest the apostles think that the Lord speaks to reproach them by saying that He lays down His life for them and that He chose them, He therefore says: "I command you this not as a reproach to you, nor in praise of Myself as …
6 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church2 voices
And in view of this recompense they ought to keep the commandment of Christ; therefore he repeats it: These things I command you, that you love one another. The commandment of love is called as it were given by hand, because he gave it by …
They observed it in order to calumniate it, as we read in the Psalms, The ungodly seeth the righteous.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
No one duty of religion is more frequently inculcated, nor more pathetically urged upon us, by our Lord Jesus, than that of mutual love, and for good reason. It is here recommended by Christ's pattern (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
These things I command you,....
25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. Here Christ discourses concerning hatred, which is the character and genius of the devil's kingdom, as love is of the kingdom of Christ.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1869)
proposed
The passage before us opens with a renewed exhortation to brotherly love. For the third time in this discourse our Lord thinks it needful to press this precious grace on the attention of His disciples. Rare, indeed, must genuine charity be, when such repeated mention of it is made! In the present instance the connection in which it stands should be carefully observed. Christian love is placed in contrast to the hatred of the world. We are shown first, in this passage, what true Christians must expect to meet in this world—hatred and persecution. If the disciples looked for kindness and gratitude from man they would be painfully disappointed. They must lay their account to be ill-treated like their Master. "The world hates you. Be not moved or surprised. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my word, they will keep yours also." Facts, painful facts in every age, supply abundant proof that our Lord's warning was not without cause. Persecution was the lot of the Apostles and their companions wherever they went. Not more than one or two of them died quietly in his bed. Persecution has been the lot of true believers throughout the eighteen Christian centuries of history. The doings of Roman Emperors and Roman Popes, the Spanish inquisition, the martyrdoms of Queen Mary's reign, all tell the same story. Persecution is the lot of all really godly people at this very day. Ridicule, mockery, slander, misrepresentations still show the feeling of unconverted people against the true Christian. As it was in Paul's day, so it is now. In public and in private, at school and at college, at home and abroad, "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." (2 Tim. 3:12.) Mere churchmanship and outward profession are a cheap religion, of course, and cost a man nothing.
The words behind it
6 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ταῦτα | tauta | These things | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| ἐντέλλομαι | entellomai | I command | G1781 → | 14 times |
| ὑμῖν | humin | you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ἵνα | ina | that | G2443 → | 668 times |
| ἀγαπᾶτε | agapate | you may love | G25 → | 143 times |
| ἀλλήλους. | allelous | one another. | G240 → | 100 times |
ΤαῦταThese things
tautaG3778 →1381 times
ἐντέλλομαιI command
entellomaiG1781 →14 times
ὑμῖνyou
huminG4771 →2973 times
ἵναthat
inaG2443 →668 times
ἀγαπᾶτεyou may love
agapateG25 →143 times
ἀλλήλους.one another.
allelousG240 →100 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
John 15:12This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
it leads to
- Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 John 4:21
And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.
- 1 Peter 4:8
Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
- John 13:34
A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.
- Ephesians 5:2
and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
- Romans 12:10
Through
1 Peter 2:17Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
it leads to
- Proverbs 24:21
My son, fear the LORD and the king, and do not associate with the rebellious.
- Romans 13:7
Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
- 1 Peter 5:5
Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Proverbs 24:21
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
About John
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John 87; Bonaventure, Commentary on John, Chapter 15; Glossa Ordinaria, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, John; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of John 77; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on John and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John.