John 15:16

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - John 15:9-17

Christ, who is love itself, is here discoursing concerning love, a fourfold love. I. Concerning the Father's love to him; and concerning this he here tells us, 1. That the Father did love him (John 15:9): As the Father hath loved me. He loved him as Mediator: This is my beloved Son. He was the Son of his love. He loved him, and gave all things into his hand; and yet so loved the world as to deliver him up for us all. When Christ was entering upon his sufferings he comforted himself with this,... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - John 15:11-17

15:11-17 "I have spoken these things to you that my joy might be in you, and that your joy might be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friend. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends because I have made known to you everything that I heard from my... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - John 15:11-17

(iv) Jesus did not only choose us for a series of tremendous privileges. He called us to be his partners. The slave could never be a partner. He was defined in Greek law as a living tool. His master never opened his mind to him; the slave simply had to do what he was told without reason and without explanation. But Jesus said: "You are not my slaves; you are my partners. I have told you everything; I have told you what I am trying to do, and why I am trying to do it. I have told you everything... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 15:16

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you ,.... Not but that they had made choice of him as their Lord and Master, Saviour and Redeemer; but not first, he was before hand with them; he chose them, before they chose him; so that his choice of them was entirely free, did not arise from any character, motive, or condition in them: the allusion is to a custom of the Jews, the reverse of which Christ acted; with whom it was usual for disciples to choose their own masters, and not masters their... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - John 15:16

Ye have not chosen me - Ye have not elected me as your Teacher: I have called you to be my disciples; witnesses and depositories of the truth. It was customary among the Jews for every person to choose his own teacher. And ordained you - Rather, I have appointed you: the word is εθηκα , I have Put or placed you, i.e. in the vine. Theodorus Mopsuensis, as quoted by Wetstein, observes that εθηκα is here used for εφυτευσα ; (I have planted); "and, in saying this, our Lord still... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - John 15:16

Verse 16 16.You have not chosen me. He declares still more clearly that it must not be ascribed to their own merit, but to his grace, that they have arrived at so great an honor; for when he says that he was not chosen by them, it is as if he had said, that whatever they have they did not obtain by their own skill or industry. Men commonly imagine some kind of concurrence to take place between the grace of God and the will of man; but that contrast, I chose you, I was not chosen by you, claims,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 15:9-16

The condition of abiding under the power of Christ's love. I. THE SPHERE AND CONDITION OF UNION . "As the Father hath loved me, I have also loved you: abide in my love." 1. The relation between the Father and the Son is the absolute type of the union between Christ and believer s. 2. The love of Christ is the sphere or atmosphere in which the disciple lives . "We love him, because he first loved us." 3. The disciple is under no other condition than that... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 15:11-16

(a) To themselves . The Lord moves into another and wider development of the union between himself and his disciples. He drops the metaphor of the vine and the branches, and comes to the essence of the relation between them; that is, he does much to explain the meaning and nature of his abiding in them, and the character of the fruit which they were expected by the great Husbandman and Father to bring forth and ripen. A connection between the second section and the first is revealed in the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 15:16

From the thirteenth to the fifteenth verse, our Lord, in a brief digression, has justified a portion of the great commandment of mutual love. That love is to correspond with his love to the disciples, and to explain his self-sacrifice to them; tie proves to them that they are his "friends," and therefore the objects of his dying love. Then the appeal is still further clenched by showing the origin and purport of his friendship for them. Ye did not choose me ( ἐξελέξασθε … ἐξελεξάμην ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 15:16

Choice and appointment. That these words refer in the first place, and indeed, in their complete application, altogether to the apostles, seems unquestionable. Yet there is a great principle embodied in them which has its working out in the experience of all Christ's people in every place and through the whole dispensation. I. THE DIVINE SELECTION . Notwithstanding that the Lord Jesus had just expressly repudiated speaking of and treating his disciples as servants, and had just... read more

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