Is Jesus Preaching Legalism When He Says “if You Love Me, Keep My Commands”?

A father tells his son to clean his room. Two hours later the child is still playing with LEGO bricks and the room is even more messy than it was earlier. Is the father to then conclude that this child does not love him? If the kid really loved the dad, then he’d have made the room spotless. Is this what Jesus meant in John 14:15? How is obedience connected to love?

In John 14:15 Jesus says to his disciples, “If you love me, keep my commands.” This verse, I believe, is one which can be easily misunderstood. We can assume that Jesus is saying something like, “prove your love for me by obeying what I tell you to do.” We can develop a works-based salvation from a verse such as this one. But there is something different happening in this passage. Love for Christ is the fountain from which our obedience springs. By understanding the context, we can understand Jesus’ point a little better.

What Is the Context of This Verse?

In John 13 Jesus washes the disciple’s feet, has a meal with them, and speaks of his betrayal and upcoming death. In 13:30 Judas, who would betray him, leaves the room. In verse 31 John repeats again that Judas had “gone out.” He really wants his readers to know that Judas isn’t in the room for this. And from John 13:31-17:28 Jesus explains to his disciples the way of the kingdom, what will be happening to him and them, and he prays for them.

Woven several times throughout these parting words of Jesus to his disciples is the theme of love. In John 13:34 Jesus tells his disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” But is that really a new commandment? Jesus had told someone earlier that loving one another, along with loving God, is the summation of the law. How is this new? I think D.A. Carson is correct, when he says, “Its newness is bound up not only with the new standard (‘As I have loved you’) but with the new order it both mandates and exemplifies.” It’s new because of the new covenant and its new because of the way that Jesus has modeled love.

John 14:15 is part of Jesus’ explanation of the way of the kingdom. It’s what it means to be “new.” It is modeled by his washing of the disciples’ feet and it will be ultimately shown in his death on their behalf. So, when we get to John 14:15, we understand that his “commandments” aren’t quite the same as a list of rules like the 10 Commandments. It’s an entire way of being.

What Does This Verse Mean?

It is important from the beginning to understand what is meant by the word “if.” There are different types of conditional clauses (“if” statements). The first-class conditional assumes that the “if” is true. If I take this job, then I will get more money. In this instance Jesus would be saying something like “You love me, so I know you’ll keep my commandments.” It’s a “let’s assume this is true for the sake of argument” type of condition. But that’s not what we have here in this passage.

The second-class conditional is the “contrary-to-fact” condition. The first class assumes that the premise is true for the sake of argument, the second class assumes that the condition is false for the sake of argument. Here Jesus would be saying something like, “If you actually loved me (though I know you don’t), then you’d keep my commandments.” That is also not what Jesus is saying in this passage.

Instead, what we have here is a third-class conditional. That means that this “if” is neither assumed to be true or false. He isn’t making a statement about his followers but “projects a condition and stipulates its entailment: they will obey…what he commands.” In other words Jesus is saying something like, “Those who love me obey my commands.” Obeying what Jesus teaches is the result of loving him. Following the way of Jesus happens because you love him.

Let’s think about broccoli for a moment. Yuck! I hate broccoli. They are little trees of nastiness that somebody once convinced us would be good to eat if you can somehow drown out the taste with enough cheese and hopelessness. But fried mushrooms…oh, I love fried mushrooms. If given a choice between the two, I’d pick the fried mushrooms every time. If you love fried mushrooms, then you’ll pick them over broccoli. And we could also say something like, “If you enjoy life, then you’ll never pick broccoli.”

That’s a ridiculous example, but it can be helpful to understand what Jesus is saying here. By nature, I’m one who loves fried mushrooms. Because of this love, I’m going to have a mushroom-loving way of life. I’ll order it as an appetizer. I’ll buy a deep fryer and try to make them myself. My love shows itself in my way of life. And that is what Jesus is saying about following the way of His kingdom.

Judas could have said, “I love Jesus.” And at some point, people would have believed him. But at the end of the day his lack of love for Jesus was shown. He did not follow the way of Jesus. He did not go down the path of suffering, of loving others, of putting fidelity to the kingdom of God above his own. Therefore, “he went out” as John tells us.

Contrast this with Peter. He also said he loved Jesus. He promised that he’d never forsake Jesus. But he did. He betrayed him three times before the rooster crowed. But Peter actually did love Jesus. And we see that as Peter and Jesus gather together after Jesus’ resurrection. Do you love me, Peter? Then feed my sheep. And this is exactly what Peter does. Why? Because he loved Jesus. He was convinced of the Jesus-way of life. And so, he ultimately followed the path of Jesus.

Is This Verse Supporting a Works-Based Salvation?

It might sound from all of this as if Jesus is teaching a works-based salvation. Almost as if he is saying, “you have to obey my commandments in order to prove your love for me. If you don’t obey my commandments, then you must not really love me. And if you don’t really love me, then you must be just like Judas.” But that’s not what Jesus means.

First, when he speaks of his commandments, he doesn’t mean something like obeying a list of prescribed dos and don’ts. It’s the way of love. It’s commitment to the Christ of the new covenant. So, don’t think of this in terms of scales. Am I following more commandments of Jesus or breaking more commandments of Jesus? Instead think of this more like a way of life. Is the general tenor of my life – the bent of my heart – one that labors to love and serve and honor Jesus? That’s what this verse is talking about.

I think John Piper says it well:

“Sometimes people use these words to say: Loving Jesus is keeping his commandments. That’s not what it says. It says that keeping Jesus’ commandments comes from our love for him. It does not separate deeds from love, but it does distinguish them. First we love him. Then because of this — overflowing from this — we do what he says. Love is not synonymous with commandment-keeping; it is the root of it. So the love that Jesus demands is something very deep and strong—like the closest family bonds of affection that we have, but greater than that and more than that.” (Piper, 53)

This verse is no more legalistic than it would be legalistic for me to say something like, “I love my wife and so I like to go on dates with her.”

Why Would We Keep Jesus' Commands if We Love Him?

To love Jesus is more than just an emotional response, though. Love means more than just having a warm fondness for something. Love means commitment and dedication. Loving Jesus means being convinced that His words are true and that His path is best. And so, if this is the case, then it is only natural that we will keep his commandments.

It’s always a lack of love that leads us to every form of disobedience. In that moment we are convinced that something else is better than Christ. In those weaker moments we are choosing to love something more than Jesus. Love means patterning your life around that which you love. The more we love Jesus the more we are going to follow Him.

It's that simple. It’s not legalism. It’s love.

Sources

D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 484, 498.

John Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World, page 53

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