John 14:23 - Exposition

Jesus answered and said to him, If a man, let him be whosoever he may, love me—there is the germ and root of all—he will keep my Word ( λόγον £ ). In John 14:21 we see the complementary statement, "He that has and keeps my commandments loves me;" here, "He that loves me keeps my Word." In John 14:21 obedience proves inward love, and may indicate to the world the fact of the Father's love and my own response. Here our Lord is laying down the principle of relation—the law of close intimacy, the conditions of higher knowledge. The keeping of the Word is a certain consequence of holy love. And my Father will love him. So far Christ has only reiterated the great statement of John 14:21 , but instead of saying, "I will love him, and manifest myself," he added, We will come —the Father and I— to him, and take up our abode , £ make for ourselves a resting-place in his dwelling ( πἀρ αὐτῳ ); cf. the analogous and wonderful parallel in Revelation 3:20 . There is a clear utterance of Divine self-consciousness. It is worthy of note that such an expression as this sounds a profounder depth of that consciousness than any phrase ( λόγος ) already delivered. Apart from the stupendous corroborative facts elsewhere on record, this seems, to mere human experience, either awfully true or infinitely blasphemous. The Father add I will come together in the power of the Spirit, and we will dwell within the loving and obedient soul. This phrase suggests the mystical union of the Divine Personality with that of those who have entered into spiritual relation with Christ through love and obedience.