John 14:15

Teaching on the Holy Spirit

14:15 “If you love me, you will obey ¹  my commandments. ² 

John 14:23-24

14:23 Jesus replied, ³  “If anyone loves me, he will obey ⁴  my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. ⁵  14:24 The person who does not love me does not obey ⁶  my words. And the word ⁷  you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

John 15:14

15:14 You are my friends ⁸  if you do what I command you.

Genesis 26:3-5

26:3 Stay ⁹  in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, ¹⁰  for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, ¹¹  and I will fulfill ¹²  the solemn promise I made ¹³  to your father Abraham. 26:4 I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them ¹⁴  all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. ¹⁵  26:5 All this will come to pass ¹⁶  because Abraham obeyed me ¹⁷  and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” ¹⁸ 

Deuteronomy 10:12-13

An Exhortation to Love Both God and People

10:12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, ¹⁹  to obey all his commandments, ²⁰  to love him, to serve him ²¹  with all your mind and being, ²²  10:13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving ²³  you today for your own good?

Deuteronomy 11:13

11:13 Now, if you pay close attention ²⁴  to my commandments that I am giving you today and love ²⁵  the Lord your God and serve him with all your mind and being, ²⁶ 

Deuteronomy 30:6-8

30:6 The Lord your God will also cleanse ²⁷  your heart and the hearts of your descendants ²⁸  so that you may love him ²⁹  with all your mind and being and so that you may live. 30:7 Then the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hate you and persecute you. 30:8 You will return and obey the Lord, keeping all his commandments I am giving ³⁰  you today.

Psalms 119:4-6

119:4 You demand that your precepts

be carefully kept. ³¹ 

119:5 If only I were predisposed ³² 

to keep your statutes!

119:6 Then I would not be ashamed,

if ³³  I were focused on ³⁴  all your commands.

Jeremiah 31:31

31:31 “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, ³⁵  “when I will make a new covenant ³⁶  with the people of Israel and Judah. ³⁷ 

Jeremiah 31:33-34

31:33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel ³⁸  after I plant them back in the land,” ³⁹  says the Lord. ⁴⁰  “I will ⁴¹  put my law within them ⁴²  and write it on their hearts and minds. ⁴³  I will be their God and they will be my people. ⁴⁴ 

31:34 “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. ⁴⁵  For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” ⁴⁶  says the Lord. “For ⁴⁷  I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”

Ezekiel 36:25-27

36:25 I will sprinkle you with pure water ⁴⁸  and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. 36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone ⁴⁹  from your body and give you a heart of flesh. ⁵⁰  36:27 I will put my Spirit within you; ⁵¹  I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes ⁵²  and carefully observe my regulations. ⁵³ 

Luke 11:28

11:28 But he replied, ⁵⁴  “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey ⁵⁵  it!”

Luke 11:2

11:2 So he said to them, “When you pray, ⁵⁶  say:

Father, ⁵⁷  may your name be honored; ⁵⁸ 

may your kingdom come. ⁵⁹ 

Colossians 1:14-15

1:14 in whom we have redemption, ⁶⁰  the forgiveness of sins.

The Supremacy of Christ

1:15 ⁶¹ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn ⁶²  over all creation, ⁶³ 

James 2:23-24

2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Now Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness,” ⁶⁴  and he was called God’s friend. ⁶⁵  2:24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

James 2:1

Prejudice and the Law of Love

2:1 My brothers and sisters, ⁶⁶  do not show prejudice ⁶⁷  if you possess faith ⁶⁸  in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ⁶⁹ 

James 2:5

2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! ⁷⁰  Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?

James 3:18

3:18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness ⁷¹  is planted ⁷²  in peace among ⁷³  those who make peace.

James 5:3

5:3 Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure! ⁷⁴ 

James 5:2

5:2 Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten.

James 1:6

1:6 But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind.

Revelation 22:14

22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can have access ⁷⁵  to the tree of life and can enter into the city by the gates.

[14:15]  ¹ tn Or “will keep.”

[14:15]  ² sn Jesus’ statement If you love me, you will obey my commandments provides the transition between the promises of answered prayer which Jesus makes to his disciples in vv. 13-14 and the promise of the Holy Spirit which is introduced in v. 16. Obedience is the proof of genuine love.

[14:23]  ³ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[14:23]  ⁴ tn Or “will keep.”

[14:23]  ⁵ tn Grk “we will come to him and will make our dwelling place with him.” The context here is individual rather than corporate indwelling, so the masculine singular pronoun has been retained throughout v. 23. It is important to note, however, that the pronoun is used generically here and refers equally to men, women, and children.

[14:24]  ⁶ tn Or “does not keep.”

[14:24]  ⁷ tn Or “the message.”

[15:14]  ⁸ sn This verse really explains John 15:10 in another way. Those who keep Jesus’ commandments are called his friends, those friends for whom he lays down his life (v. 13). It is possible to understand this verse as referring to a smaller group within Christianity as a whole, perhaps only the apostles who were present when Jesus spoke these words. Some have supported this by comparing it to the small group of associates and advisers to the Roman Emperor who were called “Friends of the Emperor.” Others would see these words as addressed only to those Christians who as disciples were obedient to Jesus. In either case the result would be to create a sort of “inner circle” of Christians who are more privileged than mere “believers” or average Christians. In context, it seems clear that Jesus’ words must be addressed to all true Christians, not just some narrower category of believers, because Jesus’ sacrificial death, which is his act of love toward his friends (v. 13) applies to all Christians equally (cf. John 13:1).

[26:3]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb גּוּר (gur) means “to live temporarily without ownership of land.” Abraham’s family will not actually possess the land of Canaan until the Israelite conquest hundreds of years later.

[26:3]  ¹⁰ tn After the imperative “stay” the two prefixed verb forms with prefixed conjunction here indicate consequence.

[26:3]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

[26:3]  ¹² tn The Hiphil stem of the verb קוּם (qum) here means “to fulfill, to bring to realization.” For other examples of this use of this verb form, see Lev 26:9; Num 23:19; Deut 8:18; 9:5; 1 Sam 1:23; 1 Kgs 6:12; Jer 11:5.

[26:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “the oath which I swore.”

[26:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your descendants.”

[26:4]  ¹⁵ tn Traditionally the verb is taken as passive (“will be blessed”) here, as if Abraham’s descendants were going to be a channel or source of blessing to the nations. But the Hitpael is better understood here as reflexive/reciprocal, “will bless [i.e., pronounce blessings on] themselves/one another” (see also Gen 22:18). Elsewhere the Hitpael of the verb “to bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11. Earlier formulations of this promise (see Gen 12:2; 18:18) use the Niphal stem. (See also Gen 28:14.)

[26:5]  ¹⁶ tn The words “All this will come to pass” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons.

[26:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “listened to my voice.”

[26:5]  ¹⁸ sn My charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. The language of this verse is clearly interpretive, for Abraham did not have all these laws. The terms are legal designations for sections of the Mosaic law and presuppose the existence of the law. Some Rabbinic views actually conclude that Abraham had fulfilled the whole law before it was given (see m. Qiddushin 4:14). Some scholars argue that this story could only have been written after the law was given (C. Westermann, Genesis, 2:424-25). But the simplest explanation is that the narrator (traditionally taken to be Moses the Lawgiver) elaborated on the simple report of Abraham’s obedience by using terms with which the Israelites were familiar. In this way he depicts Abraham as the model of obedience to God’s commands, whose example Israel should follow.

[10:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to walk in all his ways” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “follow his ways exactly”; NLT “to live according to his will.”

[10:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:12]  ²² tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being”; NCV “with your whole being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

[10:13]  ²³ tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

[11:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “if hearing, you will hear.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute to emphasize the verbal idea. The translation renders this emphasis with the word “close.”

[11:13]  ²⁵ tn Again, the Hebrew term אָהַב (’ahav) draws attention to the reciprocation of divine love as a condition or sign of covenant loyalty (cf. Deut 6:5).

[11:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

[30:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “circumcise” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “will give you and your descendents obedient hearts.” See note on the word “cleanse” in Deut 10:16.

[30:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

[30:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

[30:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I now enjoin on you.”

[119:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “you, you commanded your precepts, to keep, very much.”

[119:5]  ³² tn Heb “if only my ways were established.”

[119:6]  ³³ tn Or “when.”

[119:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “I gaze at.”

[31:31]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:31]  ³⁶ tn Or “a renewed covenant” (also in vv. 22-23).

[31:31]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”

[31:33]  ³⁸ tn Heb “with the house of Israel.” All commentators agree that the term here refers to both the whole nation which was divided into the house of Israel and the house of Judah in v. 30.

[31:33]  ³⁹ tn Heb “after those days.” Commentators are generally agreed that this refers to the return from exile and the repopulation of the land referred to in vv. 27-28 and not to something subsequent to the time mentioned in v. 30. This is the sequencing that is also presupposed in other new covenant passages such as Deut 30:1-6; Ezek 11:17-20; 36:24-28.

[31:33]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:33]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these days:’ says the Lord, ‘I will….’” The sentence has been reworded and restructured to avoid the awkwardness of the original style.

[31:33]  ⁴² tn Heb “in their inward parts.” The Hebrew word here refers to the seat of the thoughts, emotions, and decisions (Jer 9:8 [9:7 HT]). It is essentially synonymous with “heart” in Hebrew psychological terms.

[31:33]  ⁴³ tn The words “and minds” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation to bring the English psychology more into line with the Hebrew where the “heart” is the center both of knowing/thinking/reflecting and deciding/willing.

[31:33]  ⁴⁴ sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.

[31:34]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “teach…, saying, ‘Know the Lord.’” The indirect quote has been chosen for stylistic reasons, i.e., to better parallel the following line.

[31:34]  ⁴⁶ sn This statement should be understood against the background of Jer 8:8-9 where class distinctions were drawn and certain people were considered to have more awareness and responsibility for knowing the law and also Jer 5:1-5 and 9:3-9 where the sinfulness of Israel was seen to be universal across these class distinctions and no trust was to be placed in friends, neighbors, or relatives because all without distinction had cast off God’s yoke (i.e., refused to submit themselves to his authority).

[31:34]  ⁴⁷ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) that introduces this clause refers to more than just the preceding clause (i.e., that all will know the Lord) but to all of vv. 31-34a (See BDB 474 s.v. כִּי 3.c).

[36:25]  ⁴⁸ sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.

[36:26]  ⁴⁹ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination (b. Sukkah 52a).

[36:26]  ⁵⁰ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.

[36:27]  ⁵¹ tn Or “in the midst of you.” The word “you” is plural.

[36:27]  ⁵² tn Heb “and I will do that which in my statutes you will walk.” The awkward syntax (verb “to do, act” + accusative sign + relative clause + prepositional phrase + second person verb) is unique, though Eccl 3:14 contains a similar construction. In the last line of that verse we read that “God acts so that (relative pronoun) they fear before him.” However, unlike Ezek 36:27, the statement has no accusative sign before the relative pronoun.

[36:27]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and my laws you will guard and you will do them.” Jer 31:31-34 is parallel to this passage.

[11:28]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “said.”

[11:28]  ⁵⁵ sn This is another reference to hearing and doing the word of God, which here describes Jesus’ teaching; see Luke 8:21.

[11:2]  ⁵⁶ sn When you pray. What follows, although traditionally known as the Lord’s prayer, is really the disciples’ prayer. It represents how they are to approach God, by acknowledging his uniqueness and their need for his provision and protection.

[11:2]  ⁵⁷ tc Most mss, including later majority (A C D W Θ Ψ 070 ˹³ 33^vid Ï it), add ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς (Jhmwn Jo en toi" oujranoi", “our [Father] in heaven”) here. This makes the prayer begin like the version in Matt 6:9. The shorter version is read by Ì⁷⁵ א B (L: + ἡμῶν) 1 700 pc as well as some versions and fathers. Given this more weighty external evidence, combined with the scribal tendency to harmonize Gospel parallels, the shorter reading is preferred.

[11:2]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “hallowed be your name.”

[11:2]  ⁵⁹ tc Most mss (א A C D W Θ Ψ 070 ˹³ 33^vid Ï it) read at the end of the verse “may your will be done on earth as [it is] in heaven,” making this version parallel to Matt 6:10. The shorter reading is found, however, in weighty mss (Ì⁷⁵ B L pc), and cannot be easily explained as arising from the longer reading.

[1:14]  ⁶⁰ tc διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ (dia tou {aimato" autou, “through his blood”) is read at this juncture by several minuscule mss (614 630 1505 2464 al) as well as a few, mostly secondary, versional and patristic witnesses. But the reading was prompted by the parallel in Eph 1:7 where the wording is solid. If these words had been in the original of Colossians, why would scribes omit them here but not in Eph 1:7? Further, the testimony on behalf of the shorter reading is quite overwhelming: {א A B C D F G Ψ 075 0150 6 33 1739 1881 Ï latt co as well as several other versions and fathers}. The conviction that “through his blood” is not authentic in Col 1:14 is as strong as the conviction that these words are authentic in Eph 1:7.

[1:15]  ⁶¹ sn This passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[1:15]  ⁶² tn The Greek term πρωτότοκος (prwtotokos) could refer either to first in order of time, such as a first born child, or it could refer to one who is preeminent in rank. M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 43, expresses the meaning of the word well: “The ‘firstborn’ was either the eldest child in a family or a person of preeminent rank. The use of this term to describe the Davidic king in Ps 88:28 LXX (=Ps 89:27 EVV), ‘I will also appoint him my firstborn (πρωτότοκον), the most exalted of the kings of the earth,’ indicates that it can denote supremacy in rank as well as priority in time. But whether the πρωτό- element in the word denotes time, rank, or both, the significance of the -τοκος element as indicating birth or origin (from τίκτω, give birth to) has been virtually lost except in ref. to lit. birth.” In Col 1:15 the emphasis is on the priority of Jesus’ rank as over and above creation (cf. 1:16 and the “for” clause referring to Jesus as Creator).

[1:15]  ⁶³ tn The genitive construction πάσης κτίσεως (pash" ktisew") is a genitive of subordination and is therefore translated as “over all creation.” See ExSyn 103-4.

[2:23]  ⁶⁴ sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.

[2:23]  ⁶⁵ sn An allusion to 2 Chr 20:7; Isa 41:8; 51:2; Dan 3:35 (LXX), in which Abraham is called God’s “beloved.”

[2:1]  ⁶⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:1]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “partiality.”

[2:1]  ⁶⁸ tn Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.

[2:1]  ⁶⁹ tn Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxhs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[2:5]  ⁷⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[3:18]  ⁷¹ tn Grk “the fruit of righteousness,” meaning righteous living as a fruit, as the thing produced.

[3:18]  ⁷² tn Grk “is sown.”

[3:18]  ⁷³ tn Or “for,” or possibly “by.”

[5:3]  ⁷⁴ tn Or “hoarded up treasure for the last days”; Grk “in the last days.”

[22:14]  ⁷⁵ tn Grk “so that there will be to them authority over the tree of life.”