John 15

Notes

Ver. 1-5. In my peculiar relation to the church, I am the fountain of spiritual influence, and the means of conveying it to her members: and my Father plants and takes care of me, and of all that are connected with me. Such members of the church as are united to me only in profession and appearance, without bringing forth the fruits of holiness, he, in his righteous judgment, cuts off as unprofitable and injurious. Such, as being spiritually and vitally united to me by my Spirit and faith, bring forth fruits of righteousness, he, by the various methods of his Word, ordinances, influences, and rods, purges from their remaining corruption, that they may abound more in good works, and have their end everlasting life. Now therefore, Judas being gone, ye are all my living and fruitful members, partakers of my Spirit, and inwardly purified by faith in my Word, which works truly in you: adhere therefore more and more closely by faith and love to me, as your source of perpetual support and supply; for whatever be your present attainments in grace, ye cannot continue to perform holy obedience any otherwise than by continued union and communion with me. And the more abundantly ye cleave to me by faith and love, and have my Spirit dwelling in you, the more ye will abound in spiritual fruits, to the glory of God, and your own and others' advantage: for separate from me, and without my continual influence, even ye, my real members, can do nothing truly good and acceptable to God. 6, 7. Such church members, as do not thus adhere to me by faith and love, shall quickly be stripped of all relation to me or my church; and their gifts, profession, and specious appearances shall wither and die; and they shall be gathered together at the last day as fit fuel for divine wrath, and cast into everlasting remorse. But they who steadfastly cleave to me, and have me and my Word dwelling in their heart by faith, to guide, govern, quicken, and establish them, shall have everything which they request of God, for his glory and their own edification and fruitfulness, granted them to the utmost of their desires and wants. 8-11. By your thus abiding in me, and I in you, and having your petitions answered, my Father's wisdom, faithfulness, and grace are gloriously manifested; for thus he enables you tc abound in holy tempers and works, by which he may be still further glorified; and ye may more plainly appear to yourselves and to the world as my true dis: ciples, and be approved, esteemed and owned by me as such. For as my Father dearly loves and delights in me, not only as his eternal Son, but as the root and medium of all gracious communications to you, so I dearly love and delight in you, as branches united to me, and deriving virtue unto all holy fruitfulness from me. Cleave therefore affectionately and steadfastly to me, that ye may be still further approved of and delighted in by me. And if, from a principle of faith and love, ye cheerfully obey my commandments as your Lord and Saviour, ye shall continue to be approved and owned by me as my dearly beloved friends, even as I, in the character of man and mediator, have cheerfully fulfilled all. righteousness in obedience to my Father's commandment, and am continually approved by him, and know that he loves me.—These things have I thus freely and plainly declared to you, that I may rejoice in you as my fruitful members; and ye may rejoice in your union with me, and in my abiding love to you; that through the influences of my Spirit, ye may have fulness of joy to support you under all your troubles and losses; and all may issue in your complete and everlasting joy with me. 12-17. The great command which I now insist on, as a proof of your sincere affection and discipleship to me, is, that you be affectionate, and ready to perform all kind offices one to another for my sake, in consideration and in imitation of my fervent love to you in laying down my life for you. For greater love I cannot show to you, who were naturally my enemies, than in dying for you, as if ye had been my most important and endeared friends. And ye will manifest yourselves to be my true friends, and be esteemed and owned by meas such, if, from the sense of my love to you, ye make conscience of a ready and impartial obedience to all my commandments.—I neither have nor will use you as mere servants, who are kept ignorant of their master's secrets, but as friends, to whom I have imparted, and will further impart by my Spirit, all the blessed love of my Father, which is profitable for you to know or reach.—And not from natural goodness of yours, but out of love, have I called you either to salvation or to the apostleship, but by my own grace have I made you my servants and friends, that, by virtue derived from me, ye may bring forth the fruits of righteousness in your lives and ministrations, and persevere in them, till ye and your converts propagate my cause on earth, and arrive safe in heaven: and that my Father may grant you everything you ask in my name, as your prevailing advocate and friend, to promote these holy purposes. These things I require of you, in order that ye, after my example, may heartily love one another, .| as members of the same body, partakers of the same blessings, and as servants, disciples, and friends of the same Lord. 18-21. Do not wonder if carnal and worldly men, the children and subjects of Satan, hate, oppose, and persecute you; for ye know that they began with me, and have been as full of rage and spite against me, your head and chief, as they can be against you.—If ye were of the same carnal tempe. and disposition with worldly men, encouraging them in their sinful courses, they would esteem you as per. sons of their own party and likeness; but because ye are not conformed to them in their corrupt principles, manners and Customs, but are through active faith in my sacrifice set apart to exemplify and preach my spiritual and holy gospel, they have an irreconcilable antipathy to you. In order therefore to prevent murmuring at the maltreatment which you must meet with, often consider that you are not worthy of, nor warranted to expect, better treatment than I, your Lord and Master, have found. If then these carnal men have reviled and persecuted me, ye may expect they will do the same to you: and if, instead of receiving the truth in the love of it from me, they have carped and cavilled at my doctrine on account of its contrariety to their depraved sentiments, tempers, and views, they will, for the same reason, set themselves against it when delivered by you.—And on account of your relation and likeness to me, and your zealous profession and publishing of my gospel, they will thus hate, oppose, and persecute you, as they have no true knowledge of God, nor of his sending me into the world to secure the salvation of men. 22-25. If I had not in the plainest manner asserted and demonstrated my Messiahship among them, their sin, in refusing to believe in me, had been less: but since they have had so long the enjoyment of the clearest evidence of the divinity of my person, office, and doctrine, their sin is so highly aggravated, that they can plead no excuse for it.—And whoever hates and opposes me, is an enemy to my heavenly Father who sent me, and hath given public testimony to meas his beloved Son.—Nay, if I had not wrought among them such a multitude of merciful and public miracles, as neither Moses nor any other man ever wrought in such a gracious and godike manner, they might still have had some pretence of excusing their infidelity, or at least of lessening its guilt: but their persisting in it, notwithstanding their being eye-witnesses of all, must proceed from a rooted enmity at the holiness and authority of both me and my Father; and is, as the psalmist David typically foretold, a hating me without any just provocation. 26, 27. But notwithstanding their most furious and causeless enmity to my person, truths, and interests, they shall triumph over all opposition; for when that divine Counsellor, Advocate, and Comforter is come, whom I have promised, and with my Father's concurrence will send unto you,—even the Holy Spirit, who is infinitely faithful, and the inditer of all inspired truth; and who, in a divine manner, proceeds from the Father as well as from me,—he will direct, encourage, comfort, and support you under all your difficulties and dangers, and will attest my dignity and character by the further revelations which he will make, and the miraculous operations that he will enable you to perform; and will assist, own, and succeed you in confuting your enemies, and bringing vast multitudes of all nations to the obedience of faith. And under his conduct and influence ye shall be enabled to give a noble, plain, courageous, and unexceptionable testimony to me and my cause, in your doctrines, miracles, lives, and deaths, as persons who have, during the whole course of my public ministry, been acquainted with my discourses, miracles, sufferings, and behaviour, public and private, all along, till my ascension to heaven.

**Reflections.—**God has made the most abundant provision in Christ for the spiritual life, growth, fruitfulness, and happiness of men, and for advancing his own glory in and by them. Intimate, beneficial, and endearing is their union with him, and gracious his influence upon them. But without union to and fellowship with him, there can be nothing in religion done in a spiritual or acceptable manner. While under the influence of his grace, received by faith through his Word and ordinances, a most abundant production of good works may be expected. The more vigorously faith is exercised, the more will our holiness in all manner of conversation increase; and everything that we ask for God's glory and our own good, shall be graciously bestowed. But, alas! great is their folly and guilt who take up with external forms of religion instead of vital union with Christ, and by their dead works of formality and wickedness prepare themselves for eternal woe.—Infinite is his love in dying for us his enemies, and in calling us his endeared friends. But we cannot have the evidence of our union to him, or friendship with him, but in cleaving to him. Nor can we expect the manifestations of his love, but in believing his promise, and gratefully keeping his com- Mandments without reserve. His love to us, and ours to him, ought to make us obey and imitate him ina sincere, affectionate, and active love to our brethren. — Thrice happy is it when he grants us his Spirit to attest his truths, and, as our Advocate, Guide, and Comforter, to animate us with holy courage in our profession of his name, and to support us under all the tribulations which we endure for his sake. And never should we wonder at, or be discouraged by, the hatred, Teproach, contempt, and persecution we may be called to suffer from carnal men for the sake of Christ, when he. our great Lord, has undergone all and much worse for us. All that will live godly must suffer persecution; and the more faithful professors are, especially ministers, the more must they expect of it.—But inexpressible will be our guilt if we pervert the clearest revelations of Christ, and render them the occasion of greater enmity and opposition to him and his gospel, his servants and followers, It is to quarrel with our own mercies, and become our own worst. adversaries: and whatever we may pretend, it is all owing to our ignorance of, and enmity against, Go? himself.