Friends of Jesus

John 15:14-15 – “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

I have called you friends: Jesus described the measure and quality of His love for them as a love that treats servants as friends. The relationship between a disciple and his rabbi of that time wasn’t expected to be a friendship. Yet Jesus the rabbi called His disciples, His servants, friends.

In the thinking of the ancient world, a slave could be a useful and trusted tool but could never be thought of as a partner. It was possible that a slave and a friend might be of similar help, but a friend could be a partner in the work in a way a slave never could.

You are My friends if you do whatever I command you: They were friends because they were obedient (though not perfectly so). Friendship with Jesus can’t be disconnected from obedience to His commands.

In the words of Charles Spurgeon, “It must be active obedience, notice that. ‘Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.’ Some think it is quite sufficient if they avoid what He forbids. Abstinence from evil is a great part of righteousness, but it is not enough for friendship.”

I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you: They were friends because Jesus didn’t keep secrets from them, but openly revealed what He had received from God the Father.

Merrill C. Tenney considers, “The friend is a confidant who shares the knowledge of his superior’s purpose and voluntarily adopts it as his own.”

Based on The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik.