Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Fifteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 9-14 continued

Jesus then taught His disciples that when He gives His Spirit to them, He will give them spiritual joy as well as spiritual peace. John 14:27. Because of this joy and peace, believers will know that they possess His Spirit, especially when they worship Him. I John 3:23-24. Unbelievers often claim that these feelings of joy and peace are just engendered emotions, but God often allows His believers saved by grace to know that they have Christ's Spirit without any emotion. Except for those moments when the Holy Spirit causes backsliders to feel that they are in the wrong place doing the wrong things, backsliders do not feel the presence of the Holy Spirit within them most of the time. They are not abiding in fellowship with Jesus. Psalm 51:9-12. But they will feel that joy and peace again when they repent and return to conscious faith in Christ. Believers who closely follow the Lord and obey His commandments will abide in His Love because they will continually feel the presence of His Spirit within them. I John 3:23-24.

Jesus reiterated His commandment that His believers should love each other and to the same extent that He loves them. Jesus then informed His disciples that the greatest love that any person can show happens when that person sacrifices his own life to save the lives of his friends. Jesus also meant that He was about to sacrifice His own life to save their lives forever. Jesus then informed His disciples that He considers only those who keep His commandments to be His friends. Yet, Jesus called Judas Iscariot His friend when Judas came with a mob to arrest Jesus. Matthew 26:50. One would think that if Jesus could call Judas Iscariot His friend, then Christ must consider all living humans to be His friends for whom He laid down His life. But if a person must keep Christ's commandments to be His friend, then God must have a plan to return all living humans that He creates and loves to faith in Him and love for Him. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14.