02/15/2022 – Gospel of John – Chapter 15 commentary / “Those hearts must be harder than iron or stone which are not softened by such incomparable sweetness of divine love.” Calvin
I am going to start and perhaps end with Matthew Henry’s commentary for the Chapter. His commentary covers pages 1594 to 1598.
(verses 4 – 5): “So necessary is it to our happiness that we be fruitful, that the best argument to engage us to abide in Christ is, that otherwise we cannot be fruitful.”
(v. 6): “Those that bear no fruit after a while will bear no leaves. Men gather them. Satan’s agents and emissaries pick them up, and make an easy prey of them. They are burned; this follows, of course, but it is here added very emphatically , and makes the threatening very terrible.”
(verses 14, 15): Though Christ called them his friends, they called themselves his servants: Peter, a servant of Christ (1 Peter 1:1), and so James, ch: 1:1. The more honour Christ puts upon us, the more honour we should study to do him; the higher in his eyes, the lower our own.
verse 9: “That my joy, that is, your joy in me, may remain. It is the will of Christ that his disciples should constantly and continually rejoice in him , Phillipians 4, 4. The joy of those who abide in Christ’ s love is a continual feast.”
verse 10: “The disciples were to keep Christ’s commandments. The disciples were to keep Christ’s commandments, not only be a constant conformity to them themselves, but by a faithful delivery of them to others; they were to keep them as trustees.”
Verses 18-25: “Here Christ discourses concerning hatred, which is the character and genius of the devil’s kingdom, as ove is of the kingdom of Christ. 1. Who they are in whom this hatred is found — the world , the children of this world, as distinguished from the children of God. The calling of these the world intimates, 1> Their number; there was a world of people that opposed Christ and Christianity. I fear, if we should put it to the vote between Christ and Satan, Satan would out-poll us quite.”
verse 21: “If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you. (1 Peter 4:14). If we suffer with Christ, and for Christ, we shall reign with him.”
verse 22: “The aggravated guilt which those lie under to whom Christ has comes and spoken in vain. They have no cloak for their sin; they are altogether inexcusable. The word of Christ strips sin of the cloak, that it may appear sin.
Note in verses 26 -27 Matthew Henry’s comment: “We have more in this verse concerning the Holy Ghost than any one verse besides in the Bible” I wonder if he is referring the verses as well in the Chapter 16 – verses 5-16 -subtitled as: The Work of the Holy Spirit”.
We close on this sublime promise from our Lord and Savior , verses 22 -24: “So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” Oops!: These verses go with Chapter 16, tomorrow’s read:
Well, we’ll run with it here. haha
Soli Deo Gloria indeed!