As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love.
καθως ηγαπησεν με ο πατηρ καγω ηγαπησα υμας μεινατε εν τη αγαπη τη εμη
11 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Here He speaks more in human fashion, because speech adapted to human understanding has special force. Truly, how great a measure of love He showed, who was well pleased to die, and who, having honored servants, enemies, and adversaries so greatly, raised them to heaven. If I love you, then do not fear. If the Father's glory is that you bear fruit, then fear no evil. Then, lest He make them careless, see how He encourages them.
He persuades them not to fear, and for this reason says: I have loved you, and I have loved you as the Father has loved Me. He said this in human fashion. Therefore, "abide in My love," for this depends on you. When you hear that I have loved you, do not become careless, but strive to abide in My love.
With the sharpest gaze of the mind we must again examine the mysteries contained in the passage before us. These words are deep and give us, so to speak, a complete explanation of the divine economy with the flesh.
He affirms that He is loved by God and the Father, and that He Himself, for His part, has loved us in the same way. That is, He has loved us in the manner in which He Himself is understood to be loved by His own Begetter.
What then did He add to this? That we must abide “in His love.” But He gives, as it were, a foundation or most necessary reason why He is also most justly loved by the Father. It is because He “kept His commandments.” He commands us also to strive for this fulfillment and so to abide “in His love.”
In what has been said, we have briefly explained, as far as necessary, the general meaning of the passage before us. But since, I think, there is something in the words that may greatly trouble the mind of inexperienced simple people, I find it necessary to say more.
We must explain how and in what manner we should understand the meaning of the words before us.
Our Lord Jesus Christ presented Himself to us as a kind of type and example. For this reason He also came under the law and did not disdain to accept the measure of our poverty. By economically adapting Himself to our ways, He appeared as a leader for His own followers.
He became a pattern for us to receive such conduct and such a life as are not usual for us in ourselves and are wholly inaccessible to us.
Therefore we must inquire where, or what commandment of the Father, He kept, and in what way He says of Himself that He is loved by Him. Let most wise Paul come forward and initiate us into the words about Him.
He says that He was in the form of God, “but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name above every name” (Phil 2:7-9).
Do you not hear how, though He is true God and conformed to the Father who begot Him, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death? Since God willed to save the earthly race, and no created being could accomplish this, for the work surpassed every power belonging to creation, God the Only-begotten Himself, knowing the will of God and the Father, took up this divine economy.
He descended voluntarily to such obedience that He even underwent death, and the most dishonorable death. For can hanging on a cross be honorable? Is it not, on the contrary, beyond all disgrace? And since He underwent this, Scripture says, God exalted Him.
Thus in Christ you have the fulfillment, with voluntary obedience, of the desires of the Father, which the Son says He had as the Father’s commandments. As the Logos, He knows the purposes of the Father and comprehends the depths of Him who begot Him.
Or rather, being Himself the Wisdom and Power of the Father, He brings the Father’s will into actuality. He places it in the position of a commandment and calls it such, adapting Himself to human speech.
Discern also here the measure of love, for it says that God exalted Him. He exalts and glorifies Him who was already high and glorified. For He is God by nature and true God. He is not one of the creatures, because of the identity of essence with Him.
Therefore He is both conceived and truly exists above every spiritual height. Indeed, according to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, He is the Lord of Glory (1 Cor 2:8).
“Yes,” someone says, “He is raised and glorified. But how, or when, and in what manner?” Clearly, when He was in the form of a servant and in a humbled appearance, that is, when He was a man like us.
For even with the flesh He ascends to co-exaltation and co-glorification with the Father. He was loved by Him, and not then for the first time, when He fulfilled voluntary subjection. Rather, understand this as true before the Incarnation.
As He is always high and glorified by His own nature, yet is called glorified and exalted when He became man, because in relation to humanity He was deprived of divine glory, so also, being from the beginning always and eternally loved, He is called loved with the flesh also.
For this reason He appeared like us, that is, He was called and became man. He did this so that what had once been hated because of the ancient transgression and the sin that entered with it might be made beloved to God.
Therefore Christ appeared for us as the door (Jn 10:7, 9), the beginning (Jn 8:25), and the way (Jn 14:6) of all good things, according to His word. Therefore does He not rightly say of Himself that He is loved because He has kept “the commandments of the Father”?
And is this mystical saying not difficult for you? Is the depth of the divine economy accomplished for us not inaccessible to your mind? But “all things are clear to those who understand, and straight to those who have knowledge,” as it is written (Prov 8:9).
Therefore He says: “Abide in My love.” That is, walking the path of all diligence and zeal, labor and seek to be counted worthy of such love from Me as I have from God and the Father.
For I was the obedient accomplisher of the Father’s desires, and therefore I remain unceasingly loved. But as soon as you yourselves become keepers of My commandments, you too will likewise surely “abide” in My “love.”
Your negligence in this, He says, will be without excuse, for you will not bear this labor without reward. I will show you the same love that I Myself have from the Father, and I will crown the keeper of My words with honors almost equal in measure to My own.
For the Father exalted Me and gave Me “the name above every name,” since I have been manifested as God of all. But I will not be found envious or grudging toward you in such good things.
For you, who are men and therefore have received a servant nature, I have shown to be gods and sons of God. Through grace I have illumined you with dignities that surpass your nature. I have received you as sharers of My kingdom.
I have made you conformed to “the body of My glory” (Phil 3:21). I have honored you with incorruption and life.
But this is in hope and is kept for the age to come. What about the present? Have I not made you glorious and glorified? Have I not made you honored among all lovers of God?
Behold, you have received authority to rebuke impious demons. I allowed you to heal “every disease and every infirmity” (Mt 4:23). I proclaimed, saying: “Truly, truly, I say to you: he who believes in Me, the works that I do he also will do, and greater works than these will he do” (Jn 14:12).
When we examine the meaning of these words, we must think that He says this to the holy disciples. But we, always subjecting the mind to the dogmas of truth, and directing the thoughts that arise by the art of piety, as rightly as possible, to the profit of the hearers, must avoid irrationally falling into offense.
For it is written in the book of Psalms: “Great peace have those who love Thy law, and there is no offense for them” (Ps 118:165).
Behold, here is the source of our good works. For whence would they come in us, if not from faith working through love (cf. Gal 5:6)? And whence is love in us, if not from the fact that we have been loved?
This same Evangelist speaks of this with complete clarity in his Epistle: “Let us love Him, because He first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). But His words, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you,” do not indicate an equality between our nature and His. Such equality belongs to His nature and the Father’s.
Rather, they indicate the grace through which the mediator between God and men is the man Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Tim 2:5). Certainly He shows Himself as mediator when He says, “the Father loved Me, and I loved you.” For the Father, of course, also loves us, but in Him. By this the Father is glorified: that we bear fruit on the Vine, that is, in the Son, and become His disciples.
"As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you." As the Father loved Me because I fulfill His will, so I have loved you because you fulfill My will. We have already explained above that the word "as," and others like it, signify equality when used of God the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. When they are used of God and man, they indicate only likeness, and not a wholly perfect one. "Abide in My love." Again Jesus Christ points to the means of being more closely united with Him.
Until now Jesus Christ spoke figuratively, portraying Himself as the vine and the disciples as branches. He exhorted them to strive with all their strength to abide in Him as branches on the vine. From verse 9 the Lord leaves figurative language and explains directly what kind of abiding in Him He is speaking about.
“Abide,” He exhorts the Apostles, “in My love,” that is, among those loved by Me. You will attain this by fulfilling My commandments.
The motive for this, for the Apostles, should be that fulfilling Christ’s commandments out of love for Him, and the consciousness that one abides in His love, constitute blessedness and true joy for the believer. This is the joy that fills the spirit of Jesus Christ, His “My joy,” because of His consciousness of unity with God the Father in essence and life.
This very joy, unshaken by any outward circumstances of life, He communicates to those who believe in Him and fulfill His commandments. The more His disciples are filled with love for Him, the more He will communicate to them the joy which He Himself enjoys. The more perfect their joy will be.
My chief commandment is this: love one another as I have loved you. I give you an example by sacrificing My life for you out of love for you. You understand that there is no greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends.
The necessary and essential condition for progress in the Jesus Prayer is abiding in the commandments of the Lord Jesus. "Abide in My love," He said to His disciples. What does it mean to abide in love for the Lord? It means to remember Him unceasingly, and to remain unceasingly in union with Him in spirit. The first without the second is dead, and cannot even be realized.
As the Lord's disciples, they are the constant object of His love. In the name of this love for them, He adds to the exhortation to abide in Him a special exhortation to abide in His love. He indicates that keeping His commandments is the condition, or the means, for this, according to the pattern of His own relation to the commandments and love of the Heavenly Father. "As the Father has loved Me"; cf. Mt 3:17 and parallels. With such love I also have loved you. Therefore abide, remain constantly, in this love of Mine for you. The most effective means for this is keeping My commandments; cf. the note on Jn 14:15, 23-24.
In animating His disciples to faithfulness toward Him, the Savior strengthens this faithfulness by pointing also to His love for us, as the purest reflection of the heavenly Father’s love for the Son.
“As the Father has loved Me.” The love of the heavenly Father for the Son, of which the Savior speaks here, means the Father’s love for Him as Redeemer of the world. In this form the Savior speaks of Himself with the disciples. Moreover, for the Father’s love toward the eternal Son of God there is no time when it began, whereas here it is said, “has loved.”
In what, then, was this love of God the Father for the Son, the Savior of the world, expressed? To the gaze of men it was expressed in this: from eternity, the best humanity was chosen for Christ in the Virgin Mary. His humanity was sinless, clothed with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and so glorified that all things in heaven and on earth were made subject to Him.
“The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand,” says the Savior of this love (Jn 3:35). “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you.” The Father’s love for the Son is unique. In its whole fullness and greatness it cannot be reflected in any other love. Yet if its likeness can be reflected in anything, the high and frequent likeness of it is the Son’s love for believers.
The Savior compares His love for believers with the love of God the Father for Him, in order to show the depth and breadth of His love for believers.
In what was the love of God the Son for believers expressed? From eternity He willed to sacrifice Himself for the salvation of men (Eph 1:4). At the time appointed for this, He sacrifices Himself for them and goes to a shameful death. He also sent down the Holy Spirit into the world, the Spirit with whom He Himself was anointed (Acts 2:3; Eph 4:9), and He called the faithful to eternal blessedness.
“And I appoint unto you, as My Father appointed unto Me, a kingdom” (Lk 22:29), says the Savior. Thus, when the disciples were troubled by His approaching death and by their orphanhood, He said this to strengthen their faithfulness to Him. He does not leave them because His love has grown cold. On the contrary, His love for them is so great, so tender, so deep, and so beneficent that it approaches that love which the Father has for the Son.
“Abide in My love!” Since love is the principle of life in the Godhead and has appeared as a life-giving principle in humanity, it remains for men only to abide in the love of the Son of God. What, then, does it mean to abide in the love of the Son of God?
If, after speaking of the Son of God’s love for believers, the Savior says, “Abide in My love,” then He clearly requires that His love be preserved within them as a holy thing, as a treasure. Such abiding in the Son’s love is also explained by what the Savior says further: “as I abide in His love.”
Nevertheless, in the life of a true Christian, the love of the Son of God cannot fail to call forth love for the Son of God. The Savior showed this in the parable of the branches abiding on the vine (Jn 15:4-5).
In the teaching of the Apostles, the love of God often means both God’s love for men and men’s love for God. For example: “The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us” (Rom 5:5; Eph 3:17; Jn 13:1; Jn 10:34, 37).
Thus, when the Savior says, “Abide in My love,” He desires that believers preserve within themselves His love for them and repay love for His love. Otherwise, abiding in the love of the Son of God means a state in which the Son’s love manifests its gracious actions to the soul, and the soul receives them. The Lord loves the soul, and the soul loves the Lord.
The Lord speaks to the disciples of the highest development of man and of the highest joy of the soul. This joy does not come from the earth or from the fulfillment of earthly dreams and desires. It comes from fulfilling the commandments of God. The very feeling of joy merges with the feeling of love, which fills the human soul and raises it to God, the source of every happiness.
The thought of the disciples’ close union with the Lord through love is raised by the Lord to a height inaccessible to the human mind. He does this in developing what He had already said (Jn 14:21, 23). He likens God’s love for His creation to that love which from eternity binds God the Father to the God-man, the second Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, who reveals God in human form.
Here the unity of being of God the Father and God the Son is revealed. The love of God for the God-man and the love of the God-man for those who believe in Him are one love of God for man. God fully assumed man’s nature, with body and soul. He was revealed to mortals in the second Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, yet He is undivided from the Father and the Holy Spirit.
The Son of God, who reveals God, assumed the human spirit and flesh. He is also the mediating Intercessor between God and man. He is Love, for it is said: “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8).
God loved through the Son, and man cannot love God except through the Son of God. The Son of God reveals the love of God.
In the form of man, the Son of God fulfills the commandments of the heavenly Father on earth. In keeping them, the love that unites the God-man with the invisible God is expressed, for the thought of God is one. According to this majestic image, man too must strive, by uniting his thought with the commandments of Christ the Savior, to abide in the love of Him, the Redeemer and Lord. He must remember that He speaks eternally: “I have loved you; abide in My love.”
Man did not first love God. Rather, without any merit of man, who was sunk in sin, He first loved man, redeemed him, and left us a commandment that is not burdensome: “Abide in My love.”
Let us not answer this love as the Jews did, or as Judas did. In this love the Lord also grants the highest joy. What constituted the joys of the ancient world, both Jewish and pagan? Earthly pleasures, vanity, and material enjoyments.
Could man by his own powers rise to the contemplation of spiritual joys, or even understand their greatness and sweetness? No, we answer, and so did the whole pagan world. It became exhausted and came to despair beneath the weight of pleasures. Then it cast itself into the embrace of Christianity when Christianity opened to it the mysteries of rest and pure love.
God alone could open to man the treasury of imperishable and eternal joys, founded on love for God and on the fulfillment of the commandments given by our Savior and God. “My joy will be in you,” says the Lord.
The joy given by the Lord to the disciples is eternal joy, but it must be “fulfilled” in them. “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be fulfilled.” Joy must be fulfilled, that is, receive fullness. It must grow as love strengthens, as one draws near to God, and as one approaches the reward prepared by God for those who love Him (1 Cor 2:9; Isa 64:4; cf. Jas 1:12).
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 14 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS