Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 15:11
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full.
11. These things have I spoken ] The verse forms a conclusion to the allegory of the Vine. Comp. Joh 15:17, Joh 16:25; Joh 16:33.
might remain ] Better, may abide: but the reading is doubtful, and perhaps ought to be simply ‘may be;’ that My joy (see on Joh 14:27) may be in you. This does not mean ‘that I may have pleasure in you;’ but that the joy which Christ experienced through consciousness of His fellowship with the Father, and which supported Him in His sufferings, might be in His disciples and support them in theirs. Here first, on the eve of His sufferings, does Christ speak of His joy.
might be full ] Or, may be fulfilled. This expression of joy being fulfilled is peculiar to S. John (comp. Joh 3:29, Joh 16:24, Joh 17:13; 1Jn 1:4; 2Jn 1:12). The active occurs Php 2:2; ‘make my joy full;’ but nowhere else. Human happiness can reach no higher than to share that joy which Christ ever felt in being loved by His Father and doing His will.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
These things – The discourse in this and the previous chapter. This discourse was designed to comfort them by the promise of the Holy Spirit and of eternal life, and to direct them in the discharge of their duty.
My joy – This expression probably denotes the happiness which Jesus had, and would continue to have, by their obedience, love, and fidelity. Their obedience was to him a source of joy. It was that which he sought and for which he had labored. He now clearly taught them the path of duty, and encouraged them to persevere, notwithstanding he was about to leave them. If they obeyed him, it would continue to him to be a source of joy. Christ rejoices in the obedience of all his friends; and, though his happiness is not dependent on them, yet their fidelity is an object which he desires and in which he finds delight. The same sentiment is expressed in Joh 17:13.
Your joy might be full – That you might be delivered from your despondency and grief at my departure; that you might see the reason why I leave you, be comforted by the Holy Spirit, and be sustained in the arduous trials of your ministry. See 1Jo 1:4; 2Jo 1:12. This promise of the Saviour was abundantly fulfilled. The apostles with great frequency speak of the fulness of their joy – joy produced in just the manner promised by the Saviour – by the presence of the Holy Spirit. And it showed his great love, that he promised such joy; his infinite knowledge, that, in the midst of their many trials and persecutions, he knew that they would possess it; and the glorious power and loveliness of his gospel, that it could impart such joy amid so many tribulations. See instances of this joy in Act 13:52; Rom 14:17; 2Co 2:3; Gal 5:22; 1Th 1:6; 1Th 2:19-20; 1Th 3:9; 1Pe 1:8; Rom 5:11; 2Co 7:4.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 15:11
These things have I spoken unto you, that My Joy might remain in you
Christs things to make His disciples happy
A revelation of
I.
HEAVEN (Joh 14:1-5) as
1. A Fathers house.
2. Capacious.
3. Prepared.
4. Taken to by Himself.
II. THE FATHER.
1. Christ tells them that they have a Father. That was the great want of their souls.
2. He tells them that those who have seen Him have seen the Father. All the love, faithfulness, tenderness, wisdom of the Father was in Him. Therefore they might trust Him.
III. The SPIRIT (Joh 14:12-31). He tells them that He would not leave them comfortless. The Spirit would
1. Give them power to do wonderful works.
2. Qualify them to pray successfully.
3. Abide with them forever.
IV. UNION WITH HIMSELF (Joh 15:1-11). He showed that this union was
1. Vital.
2. Fruitful.
3. Necessary. (R. V. Pryce, LL. B.)
Christs joy
The greatest of sufferers was the happiest of men. He exulted in the prospect of Gethsemane and the Cross.
I. HIS OWN JOY. It was the joy
1. Of uninterrupted communion with the Father (Joh 4:31-32).
2. Of accomplishing His Fathers will (Heb 10:7; Psa 40:6; Luk 22:41).
3. Of anticipating the result of His great work (Isa 13:11; Heb 12:2).
II. THE BELIEVERS PARTICIPATION IN THE JOY.
1. It is the Saviours joy. Is it possible to have this? Yes; we may partake of the joys of fellowship, obedience, hope. Present service is ours, and future victory will be.
2. It is a joy that may be full, or fulfilled. A man has joy as soon as he becomes a believer, but it is not filled up. Jesus wishes it to be, and puts into his hand a cup of joy which overflows. It is a paradox; but the Christian, though sorrowful, is always rejoicing (2Co 1:3-6; 2Co 6:9-10; Php 2:17; Php 4:4).
3. It is a joy which none can take away (Joh 16:22). It is not in the power of the world to rob a Christian of his joy. (T. Stephenson.)
The sources of Christs joy
I. THE BEAUTY AND PERFECTION OF HIS OWN CHARACTER.
1. As an innocent child.
2. As a righteous man.
II. HIS EXQUISITE SENSE OF THE MEANING AND BEAUTY OF NATURE. No artist, or poet, or psalmist so revelled in the glories of creation. He might well do so; for He knew it with the knowledge not of a spectator or student, but of a Maker.
III. HIS TESTIMONY OF HIS FATHER, DECLARING HIS NAME AND WONDROUS LOVE. If a Newton cannot tell his discoveries without being overjoyed; if a reformer cannot but be enthusiastic about his mission, what must Christ have felt, whose work was to reveal the Father?
IV. HIS LIFE OF SERVICE AND SELF-SACRIFICE (Heb 12:3). (J. T.Stannard.)
Christs inner joy
I. ITS SOURCES.
1. The consciousness of the abiding presence of the Father. Harmony of Spirit with heaven.
2. The obedience and attachment of the disciples. Great is the joy of a tutor or parent when the scholar or child manifests proficiency and perseverence.
3. The beneficent effects of His working. It was His joy to take this up, and his meat to finish it.
4. The foresight of the working of His truth in the world, and its ultimate results. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. He shall see of the travail of His soul.
II. ITS CHARACTERISTICS.
1. It was not like the joy of the world, which is often mere levity, never lasts, and is quenched by death.
2. It was
(1) A steady joy. All through His life, from His infancy to His Cross, we see calm joy and obedience.
(2) A joy in the prospect of death (Heb 12:3).
(3) A lasting joy, not variable, like that of many of us–grasping at the clouds one day, and the next in the depths of despair.
(4) A shared joy. He lived not for Himself, but for others. Those who seek to bless others are always the most happy.
III. ITS INFLUENCE. Strength-inspiring, health-giving. Sterne said every smile tends to lengthen out the fragment of our lives. No wonder, with this inspiration, the apostles became what they did. What manner of men ought we to be? (Homiletic Magazine.)
The fellowship of Christs joy the source of true blessedness
This saying is strange, because our idea of Christ is that of the man of sorrows. Only on one occasion are we told that He rejoiced. But the saying seems stranger still when we look at the circumstances under which it was uttered–in sight of the agony and the Cross. Then remember to whom it wasspoken: to men for whom He had predicted martyrdom.
I. WHAT WAS THE BLESSEDNESS OF CHRIST? Note
1. That the blessedness of the infinite God is essentially incomprehensible. The thought of God is necessarily the thought of One infinite and eternal, without limit or change. But we can only conceive of blessedness as a change from the less to the more blessed. We know the light by knowing the darkness, and joy only by its changes. We are obliged, therefore, to think of God as rejoicing in His world, and as rising to a higher gladness when He had peopled His universe with creatures. In these two contradictory thoughts, both of which we must think and yet cannot reconcile, lies the mystery of the ever blessed God.
2. In God revealed in Christ, the mystery is yet deeper. How, if one with the Infinite, could His joy ever fail? Why, if foreseeing the results of His mission, could He sorrow? But observing Christ on His human side, His blessedness as the God-Man must be in some measure comprehensible. He humanity was as perfect as His divinity, and the emotions of the human Christ we can partly understand; and this will lead us to a comprehension in part of His Divine joy.
3. The elements of His joy were two fold. It came, He tells us
(1) By keeping the Fathers commandments. It was the feeling that He did not live for Himself–that He existed as Man to reveal the full glory of eternal love, that every toil and sorrow were helping on the Divine plan for mans redemption–that formed His joy.
(2) By abiding in the Fathers love. Men might desert Him–this never did. His human nature might tremble, but His eye pierced beyond the sorrow into the sunshine of the Divine law behind it, and that was a mighty joy. Hence His frequent hours of prayer.
(3) Combining these two elements, we may understand how it was that He spoke of it so soon after His Spirit was troubled. For His blessedness and suffering arose from one source: the doing of the Fathers will. The consciousness of complete self-surrender gave Him gladness; yet the surrender produced the sorrow.
II. CAN THAT JOY RE COMMUNICATED? We find the answer in the preceding verse. Like their Master, the disciples were to surrender life to be the organ of Gods will, and then the consciousness of His love would dawn. In a sense, joy and sorrow are incommunicable. The heart knoweth its own bitterness, etc. But they are communicable just as we are one in sympathy and purpose with a friend. I know nothing of the joy of a stranger; but I do know the joy of a man with whom I am bound by the deep sympathies of love. So to enter into Christs joy we must become Christ-like. Amid anxiety and sorrow, a man first gives up his all to God; and amid His suffering there flashes the conviction, God loves me, and there steals over his heart a blessedness which is the joy of the Lord.
III. THE FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTS BLESSEDNESS IS THE ONLY SOURCE OF PERFECT JOY. Perfect joy has two conditions.
1. In its source it must be self-surrender to the highest love. All inward discord destroys joy, and that discord only ceases when a man loses the thought of self in devotion to something he regards as greater. The man who toils for wealth is never satisfied, because in the pursuit he is trying to lose the sense of self. The pleasure seeker plunges into every excitement that will drown reflection. The ambitious man loses the thought of self in the intense yearning for future achievement. In fine, man pants for the Infinite–for a boundless something to which he may yield his heart and be conscious of himself no more. This explains the idea of final absorption into the Deity, and the belief in the eternal sleep of death. But fellowship with the eternal joy of Christ furnishes the only anodyne to the unresting sense of self.
2. Real enjoyment must be independent of outward changes. The longing to attain a state of life superior to the accidents of time and change shows this. The wisest men have spoken of following the right, in the face of all consequences, as the source of the highest joy. The fellowship of Christs joy gives this. It gave it to Paul, who was enabled there by to glory in infirmity. Even death, which damps the joy of all other men, consummates the blessedness of those who, through fellowship of life, are partakers of the joy of Christ. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)
The abiding joy
I. ITS SOURCE. These things have I spoken unto you. He referred them especially to what He had just said. Union with Christ. I am the Vine, etc.
1. To be one with Christ is to enjoy the peace of God.
2. To be one with Christ is to walk in the right path–the path of truth, virtue, and honour. He is the Way.
3. To be one with Christ has its prospects. The crown is beyond the Cross. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you.
II. ITS CONTINUANCE. That My joy may remain in you. The promise implies a state of heart which is never without sources of joy. Christians are subject to natural and moral grief; but when the clouds obscure the light and make the atmosphere cold, the sun is, nevertheless, in the heavens. Christian joy is perpetual, because
(1) Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and forever, without change. The streams never dry while the fountain is full.
(2) Intercommunion never fails. He has ordained means which are infallible. This is a bold saying; but as the sun cannot fail to give life, the promise cannot fail to give comfort, prayer cannot fail to bring the blessing, and the communion of saints cannot fail to generate love.
III. ITS EXPANSIVENESS–That your joy might be full. The growth of the child, or the increased light of the sun until the perfect day, or the journey of the pilgrims Zion-ward, represents the advancing state of grace.
(1) Full in respect of its object. We have only touched the hem of His garment as yet. As faith is turned into sight, our joy increases.
(2) Full in respect of the subject. It is possible only when all fear of sin and death is removed. Rejoice evermore; that is, rejoice on to rejoicing, for sources of anxiety are left behind, and you and Christ are one. (Weekly Pulpit.)
The Christians joy
1. Jesus spoke these words to those who were about to be His representatives in the world. It was no easy mission on which He was sending them; but it was His will that they should go, not as soldiers on a forlorn hope, with the courage of despair, but in that holy joyous tone of spirit which means the courage of confident victory. And what He means for one set of disciples He means for all.
2. Note three elements of Christs joy.
I. HIS FILAL JOY. We are brought into the presence of it in chap. 17. Now it is His will that we should share the joy of sonship. We may do this by faith in His name and the possession of the Spirit of Adoption which He gives. What joy can equal that of even the greatest sufferer who trusts and delights in his Father in heaven?
II. THE JOY OF SERVICE. I delight to do Thy will. Even beyond results, beyond the luxury of doing good, there is a joy in the very serving itself. To gather the wanderers, to win the young, to alleviate suffering, drives away a thousand black thoughts, and fills the individual heart and the Church with joy. What a joyful ring there is in Neither count I My life dear unto Myself, that I might finish My course with joy. The self-same joy is open to us. Instead of being self-seekers, let us simply ask, What is the will of God for me? The narrow, dissatisfied, unhappy, will find their cure here.
III. THE SAVIOUR JOY. There are many passages in which this comes into view–e.g., when Jesus saw the poor and lowly gathering around Him, He rejoiced in spirit; and then, when the publican and sinner drew near, He likened Himself to the shepherd, who in rescuing the lost sheep, called his friends together, saying, rejoice with me. This is the joy for which He endured the Cross and despised the shame. Now He will have all Christians share in that very joy, and be glad in the fruits of the travail of His soul. (J. Culross, D. D.)
The nature and sources of Christian joy
This Divine joy is planted in the soul by the Holy Spirit. It is therefore an inward and spiritual joy; it is deep-rooted in the heart; it is solid and well founded; it is abiding and lasting; it is a satisfying joy, and purifying in its effects. It is a joy that flourishes most in adversity. It is a communicative joy. A man has not tasted what religion is if he does not seek to impart this joy to others. It is the joy of communion with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a humble joy; but it causes a man to triumph in Christ. (R. Cecil, M. A.)
Happiness and joy
Christ enters the world bringing joy: Good tidings of great joy. So now He leaves it, bestowing His gospel as a gift of joy. This testament of His joy He also renews in His parting prayer: These things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. Man of sorrows though we call Him, still He counts Himself the Man of joy. It is an impression that the Christian life is one of hardship and suffering: Christ, you perceive, has no such conception of it, and no such conception is true.
I. To clear this truth, it is necessary, first of all, to exhibit THE MISTAKE OF NOT DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN HAPPINESS AND JOY.
1. There is a distinction represented in the words themselves.
(1) Happiness is that which happens or comes by an outward befalling. It is what money yields, or will buy–settlement in life or rank, political standing, victory, power. All these stir a delight in the soul, which is not of the soul, but from without. Hence they are looked upon as happening to the soul, and, in that sense, create happiness. The Latin word fortune very nearly corresponds with the Saxon. For whatever came to the soul, bringing it pleasure, was considered to be its good chance, and was called fortunate.
(2) But joy differs from this, as being of the soul itself. And this appears in the original form of the word, which, instead of suggesting a hap, literally denotes a leap or spring. Here again, also, the Latin bad exult–a leaping forth. The radical idea, then, of joy is that the soul has such springs of life opened in its own blessed virtues, that it pours forth a sovereign joy from within. It is not the bliss of condition, but of character.
2. And we have many symbols of joy about us from which we might take the hint of a felicity higher than the mere pleasures of fortune or condition: the sportive children, too full of life to be able to restrain their activity; the birds pouring out their music, simply because it is in them. Precisely, too, history shows us the saints of God singing out their joy together in caves and dens of the earth, and the souls of martyrs issuing, with a shout, from the fires that crisp their bodies.
II. It is necessary, in order to a right conception of Christian joy, as now defined, that we discover HOW TO DISPOSE OF CERTAIN FACTS, WHICH COMMONLY PRODUCE A CONTRARY IMPRESSION.
1. Thus, when the Saviour bequeaths His joy to us, He lives a persecuted life, and passes through an agony to His death. Where, then, is the joy of which He speaks? To this I answer that He was a Man of sorrows in the matter of happiness; that is, in the outward condition of His earthly state; still He had ever within a joy, a spring of good, which was perfectly sufficient. Indeed, He reveals the victorious power of joy in the Divine nature itself; for God, in the contradictions of sinners, suffers a degree of abhorence and pain that may properly be called unhappiness; and He would be an unhappy Being were it not that the love He pours into their bosom is to Him a welling up eternally of conscious joy. And exactly so He represents Himself in the incarnate person of Christ. In His parable of the shepherd calling in his neighbours to rejoice with him over the sheep he has found, He opens the joy He feels as being that Shepherd. And then, how much does it signify when, coming to the close of His career, He says, glancing backward in thought over all He has experienced, My joy, bequeathing it to His disciples as His dearest legacy. What, then, does it signify of real privation or loss to become His follower!
2. But it requires, you will say, painful thought to begin such a life–sorrow, repentance, self-renunciation, and to pass through life under a cross. How can the Christian life be called a life of joy? It is not, I answer, in these things, taken simply by themselves. But consider what labours, cares, self-denials, all men have to suffer in the way of what is called success–in scholarships, e.g., and in war. Are these made unhappy because of the losses they are obliged to make? Are they not rather raised in feeling on this very account? But how is this? The solution is easy, viz., that the sacrifice made is a sacrifice of happiness, a sacrifice of comfort of condition; and the gain made is a gain of something more ennobling, a gain that partakes of the nature of joy. The man of industry and enterprise says within himself, These are not gifts of fortune; they are my conquests, tokens of my patience, economy, application, fortitude, integrity. In them his soul is elevated from within. And it will be found that even worldly men despise mere happiness. None but the tamest will sit down to be nursed by fortune. In such a truth you may see how it is possible for the repentances, sacrifices, self-denials, and labours of the Christian life to issue in joy.
III. THE POSITIVE REALITY ITSELF. We notice
1. The fact that, in a life of selfishness and sin, there is a wellspring of misery which is now taken away. No matter how fortunate the external condition of an unbelieving, evil mind, there is yet a disturbance, a sorrow within, too strong to be mastered by any outward felicity. The whole internal nature is in a state of discord. And this discord is the misery, the hell of sin. How much, then, does it signify that Christ takes away this? For Christ is the embodied harmony of God, and he that receives Him settles into harmony with Him. Just to exterminate the evil of the mind, and clear the sovereign hell which sin creates in it, would suffice to make a seeming paradise.
2. Besides, there is a fact more positive: the soul is no sooner set in peace with itself than it becomes an instrument in tune, discoursing heavenly music; and now no fires of calamity, no pains of outward torment, can for one moment break the sovereign spell of its joy.
3. But we must ascend to a plane that is higher. Little conception have we of the souls joy, or capacities of joy, till we see it established in God. It dares to call Him Father without any sense of daring. It is strong with His strength. It turns adversity into peace, for it sees a friendly hand ministering only good in what it suffers. In dark times it is never anxious, for God is its trust, and God will suffer no harm to befall it. To a mind thus tempered, fortune can add little, and as little take away.
4. The Christian type of character is a character rooted in the Divine love, and in that view has a sovereign bliss welling up from within. No power is strong enough to forbid love, none therefore strong enough to conquer the joy of love; for whoever is loved must be enjoyed. Besides, it is a peculiarity of love that it takes possession of its neighbours riches and successes, and makes them its own. Loving him, it loves all that he has for his sake. It understands the declaration well, For all things are yours. Having such resources of joy in its own nature, the word that signifies love, in the original of the New Testament, is radically one with that which signifies joy. According to the family registers of that language, they are twins of the same birth. Love is joy, and all true joy is love. And Christ is an exhibition to us of this fact in His own Person, a revelation of Gods eternal joy, as being a revelation of Gods eternal love, coming down thus to utter in our ears this glorious call, Enter ye into the joy of your Lord. He finds us hunting after condition. He says, Behold My poverty, watch with Me in My agony, follow Me to My Cross. Coming up into love, you clear all dependence of condition, you ascend into the very joy of God; and this is My joy. This I have taught you; this I now bequeath to your race.
IV. SOME OF THE INSPIRING AND QUICKENING THOUGHTS THAT CROWD UPON US IN THE SUBJECT REVIEWED.
1. Joy is for all men. It does not depend on circumstance or condition; if it did, it could only be for the few.
2. The reason why men have it not is that they do not seek it where it is–in the receiving of Christ and the spirit of His life. They go after it in things without, not in character within.
3. It is important that we hold some rational and worthy conception of the heavenly felicity. How easy it is for the Christian, who has tasted the true joy of Christ, to let go the idea of joy and slide into the pursuit only of happiness or the good of condition. No getting into heaven as a place will compass it. You must carry it with you, else it is not there. Consider only whether heaven be in you now. For heaven is nothing but the joy of a perfectly harmonized being filled with God and His love. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)
The difference between worldly mirth and Christian joy
Mirth comes from external things which tickle the senses and please the appetite; but joy comes from the happy spirit within us. If this be so, a poor sickly man may not be full of mirth, but he may be full of joy; while a rich man may be sinful and mirthful, and yet have no joy. Mirth comes from outward things, and it therefore lasts only for a short time; but joy springs from an inward eternal force of blessedness. The other day, in London, a kind friend called at my hotel and left me a bouquet of beautiful flowers. I had them put in water, and I said, I will take these flowers home with me; but they faded, and the sweet perfume was gone; they were beautiful and fragrant only for a time. So mirth is pleasant while it lasts, but very soon it is gone like a dream; but the joy that comes from trusting God and doing His will has no end; it is an increasing eternal delight. What is more beautiful than a balloon rising in the sky? but what is more unsightly than the beautiful thing emptied and lying, an unshapely mass, upon the ground? Mirth may well be compared to fireworks. How grand they are! why, they put out the light of the stars! but, then, you know, when the fireworks have finished their explosive din, the stars keep on shining forever. Equally enduring shall be the joy of the believer and doer of Gods will; he shall be like a light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Let me remind you of the martyr, John Bradford. When the morning dawned on which he was to be put to death, he had such peace within him that he swung upon the rail of the bedstead in his dungeon, and while he swung he cried, Oh, I am so happy! We shall light a fire today that will never be put out! Then he went forth, Smiling and joyful, to the stake in Smithfield, glorifying God; and so he died. Can you find anything in sinful pleasure to give a joy like that? Will you find it in the intoxicating cup? In gambling? In any of the sinful indulgencies of life? No, no; they are not solid; they let you down at the critical moment when they ought to sustain you. You find that they give no help, and you are left alone like a boy on the ice when it gives way, and he cries for a friend and deliverer, and there is none. (W. Birch.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. That my joy may remain in you] That the joy which I now feel, on account of your steady, affectionate attachment to me, may be lasting, I give you both warnings and directions, that ye may abide in the faith.
That your joy might be full.] Or, complete – , filled up: a metaphor taken from a vessel, into which water or any other thing is poured, till it is full to the brim. The religion of Christ expels all misery from the hearts of those who receive it in its fulness. It was to drive wretchedness out of the world that Jesus came into it.
Bishop Pearce, by joining to , and not to , translates the verse thus: These things have I spoken, that my joy in you may remain-which is according to the meaning given to the first clause.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The end of my pressing so much the duty of holiness upon you, under the notions of abiding in me, abiding in my love in my words, bringing forth much fruit, &c. is, that I might have a continual cause to rejoice in you. Joy is nothing else but the satisfaction of the reasonable soul in its union with an object which it loved and desired. Christ, willing and desiring the perfection of his disciples, according to the rational workings of human nature, is properly said to rejoice in the satisfaction of his will; in which sense joy and rejoicing are often in Scripture attributed to God. Nor doth Christ press them to this, that he might rejoice in them, but also that their joy might be full; that joy and peace which attends and follows believing, Rom 15:13; called the peace of God, Col 3:15; a peace which passeth all understanding, Phi 4:7. No man maketh Christ to rejoice over him, but he thereby also procures unspeakable joy and peace to himself; as no man grieves his Spirit, but also purchases grief and sadness to himself in the latter end.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9-11. continue ye in my lovenot,”Continue to love Me,” but, “Continue in thepossession and enjoyment of My love to you”; as is evident fromthe next words.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
These things have I spoken unto you,…. Concerning the vine and branches, his abiding in them, and they in him, their fruitfulness from him, and perseverance in him, his love to them, and theirs to him:
that my joy might remain in you; meaning either that joy with which he joyed in and over them, as united to him, and which is of the same nature as the joy of the bridegroom over the bride, and which will always remain and continue the same; or rather that joy which he is the author, object, ground, and matter of, for there is always reason to rejoice in him, even in the most afflictive circumstances of life:
and that your joy might be full; that grace of joy which is implanted in the soul, by the Spirit of God in regeneration, and arises from, and is increased by discoveries of the person, grace, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ; and is “full of glory”, 1Pe 1:8; upon a clear sight of him in this life, and will be entirely full, completely perfected in the other world, when he will be seen as he is,
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
That my joy may be in you ( ). Purpose clause with and the present subjunctive (some MSS. have , may remain), Christ’s permanent absolute joy in the disciples.
And that your joy be fulfilled ( ). Same construction with first aorist (effective) passive subjunctive of , consummation of the process preceding.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
My joy. The joy that is mine; characteristic of me. See on ver. 9. Might remain [] . The best texts read h, may be.
Might be full [] . Rev., more correctly, may be fulfilled. The A. V. loses the distinction between the absolute joy which is Christ ‘s, and the progressive, but finally consummated joy which is the disciple ‘s.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1 ) “These things have I spoken unto you,” (tauta lelalema humin) “These things I have spoken to you all,” these matters of fruitbearing and love for the Father, the Son, and one another, as disciples, Joh 13:34-35.
2) “That my joy might remain in you,” (hina he chara he eme humin he) “In order that my joy may be (reside or exist) in you all,” my joy of redeeming love, my new nature of joy, peace, and hope, Rom 5:1-5; Joh 16:22; Rom 15:13. The joy Jesus had in doing the Father’s will, He desired to share with (not monopolize from) His disciples.
3) “And that your joy might be full.” (kai he chara plerothe) “And your joy may be filled,” 1Jn 1:4; 2Jn 1:12, in a continuing state of inner sustaining joy and peace that lasts through all the trials and storms of life, of those who serve Him, 1Co 10:13; Joh 16:33; Joh 17:13; Php_4:4; 1Th 2:19-20.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11. These things I have spoken to you. He adds, that his love is far from being unknown to the godly, but that it is perceived by faith, so that they enjoy blessed peace of conscience; for the joy which he mentions springs from that peace with God which is possessed by all that have been justified by free grace. As often, then, as God’s fatherly love towards us is preached, let us know that there is given to us ground for true joy, that, with peaceable consciences, we may be certain of our salvation.
My joy and your joy. It is called Christ ’ s joy and our joy in various respects. It is Christ ’ s, because it is given to us by him; for he is both the Author and the Cause of it. I say that he is the Cause of it, because we were freed from guilt, when
the chastisement of our peace was laid on him, (Isa 53:5.)
I call him also the Author of it, because by his Spirit he drives away dread and anxiety in our hearts, and then arises that calm cheerfulness. It is said to be ours for a different reason; because we enjoy it since it has been given to us. Now since Christ declares that he spake these things, that the disciples might have joy, we conclude from these words, that all who have duly profited by this sermon have something on which they can rest.
That my joy may abide in you. By the word abide he means, that it is not a fleeting or temporary joy of which he speaks, but a joy which never fails or passes away. Let us therefore learn that we ought to seek in the doctrine of Christ the assurance of salvation, which retains its vigor both in life and in death.
That your joy may be full. He adds, that this joy will be solid and full; not that believers will be entirely free from all sadness, but that the ground for joy will be far greater, so that no dread, no anxiety, no grief, will swallow them up; for those to whom it has been given to glory in Christ will not be prevented, either by life, or by death, or by any distresses, from bidding defiance to sadness.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you.The better reading is, . . that My joy may be in you. The joy thought of is that which Christ Himself possessed in the consciousness of His love towards the Father, and of the Fathers love towards Him. The brightness of that joy lit up the darkest hours of His own human life, and He wills that it should light up theirs. In the consciousness of their love to God, and of Gods love to them, there would be in them, as part of their true life, joy which no sorrow could ever overcome. They were as men with troubled hearts. He has told them of the true source of peace. His own peace He has given to them. He tells them now of the source of joy, and has spoken the word that they may possess the very joy which was the light of His own heart.
And that your joy might be full.Comp. the words of the Intercessory Prayer in Joh. 17:13, and the same phrase in Joh. 3:29; Joh. 16:24; 1Jn. 1:4; 2Jn. 1:12. The state of which He has spoken to themthe loving and being loved of Godis the ideal perfection of human life. It supplies satisfaction for all the deepest desires of our being. The capacities of the whole man are fulfilled in it, and the result is fulness of joy. They have learnt little of the true spirit of Christianity whose religion does not impart to them a joy which sheds its light over the whole of their lives.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. My joy might remain in you your joy might be full And this completes the climax. As the apostate tends onward to the final burning, so the persevering elect progresses onward, through advancing stages of answered prayer, of glorifying God, of perfect love and obedience, to the full consummation of an eternal and absolute fulness of joy. Language can express no higher, no more perfect attainment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“These things I have said to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be fulfilled.”
Jesus assures His disciples that He wants them to live lives filled with joy, and that if they keep what He has commanded they will be able to do so. This is not ‘happiness’, which is transient and depends on things turning out well, but joy which flows from the soul in all kinds of circumstances even when things are not going well. He has previously promised them peace (Joh 14:27). Now He promises joy, and joy to the brim (‘filled full’). And both are found for them, as they are for us, by dwelling continually in Him in confident, prayerful trust and obedience to His will, for He is the source of that joy, and in Him they can know that all will finally be well. Peace and joy are part of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22)
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The New Status of Christ’s Disciples. The joy of the Christians:
v. 11. These things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
v. 12. This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
v. 13. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
v. 14. Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. The parable of the Vine and the branches with its application had a definite object, namely, that the joy which Christ has enjoyed, which is His in a peculiar sense, may be in His disciples, may become their property, their special and cherished possession. The great joy of His life He found in the intimate communion with His Father, with whom He is united in one essence, in the consciousness of the Father’s love, and in the observance of His will. If this same mind would be found in the disciples, they would feel the same joy, they would rejoice in the constant communion with Christ and God. And by the same token their joy would be fulfilled, they would have the full measure of joy, of bliss which could not be taken from them. This joy, attained by the consciousness of their union with their Savior, will then also work willingness to fulfill the commandment of love, that the brotherly love among them should be so full and so perfect as Christ’s love toward the believers is full and perfect. And in order to emphasize utter unselfishness and forgetfulness of self as the keynote in the manifestation of true love, He gives them an instance, a specific case of love’s highest proof. A greater love than this love has no man, that he give and lay down his life for his friends. This general truth had a very specific application in the case of Jesus: He laid down His life for those whom He had chosen as His friends. And in His case the idea of ransom, of substitution, stands out very prominently. In the place of, in the stead of, the guilty ones He gave His own life, thus delivering them from the consequences of deeds which they should have borne. “That is called a great, powerful love if a man gives to another in his misfortune a hundred or a thousand dollars, or pays all his debts for him; but how great would that be if a king” or a prince would give to a poor beggar a duchy or principality, yea, even his own kingdom or land and people? There the whole world would sing and say of unheard-of love. But that is only a small matter when compared with this, that Christ gives His life and body for thee, which is indeed the highest love that any man on earth can show to another; for to serve with money and goods, yea, also with the body, is also called loving. But there is none that would not much rather give his money and goods, yea, his land and people, than that he should die for another; and if he did it, it would be nothing beside that fact that God’s Son comes down from heaven and steps forth in thy place, and willingly sheds His blood and dies, though thou hast been His enemy and a condemned person. That is the love which is much greater and higher than heaven and earth and everything that might be named. ” This application of the great truth Christ makes Himself. His disciples are His friends, if the evidence of their works in performing His commandments indicates the faith of their hearts. He looked upon them as His friends for whom He intended to die; but they, in turn, should show and practice self-denial in loving and serving their neighbors, one another. Note: It is a name which honors the Christians very highly, to be called the friends of Jesus, the Savior, and to have such wonderful evidence of Christ’s friendship in His death.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Joh 15:11. These things have I spoken “I have spoken these things, hoping they will influence you to keep my commandments, whereby you will continue the objects of my love; and, in the consciousness thereof, will be filled with the same kind of joy which I feel from obeying my Father’s commandments, and from the consciousness of his love. I have spoken these things likewise, that your eternal joy may be full in heaven, where you shall shine as stars, because you have turned many to righteousness.” Many translate the passage thus: These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy in you may remain, &c. “I have spoken these things, that, by your diligence in obeying them, I shall always have cause to rejoice, on account of your behaving as my apostles and disciples ought to behave; and you cause to rejoice in my friendship, in the honour I have conferred upon you, and in the eternal possession of heaven.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 15:11 . Conclusion of the section Joh 15:1-10 ( ).
, . . .] Note the juxtaposition of and ; that my joy may be in you, i.e . that the same joy which I have may be yours . The holy joyous tone of soul is intended, the conscious moral courage of joy, which also rises victorious over all suffering, as Christ, in virtue of His fellowship with the Father and of His obedience towards Him, must and did possess it (comp. Joh 17:13 ), and as it is so often audible in Paul’s writings also in the sense of Christ (1Co 7:30 ; 2Co 13:11 ; Phi 2:17-18 ; Phi 4:4 ; Rom 14:17 ; Gal 5:22 ). Yet is not: the joy produced by me (Calvin, De Wette), or of which I have opened to you the spring (Tholuck), which is forcing a meaning on the simple possessive expression (comp. Joh 3:29 , Joh 17:13 ; 2Co 2:3 ), and does not satisfy the significant juxtaposition of and (comp. 2Co 2:3 : ). The explanations: mea de vobis laetitia (corresponding to ; so Augustine, Schoettgen, Lampe, Kuinoel, Ebrard, Hengstenberg, and several others), or even: gaudium vestrum de me (Euth. Zigabenus, Grotius, Nsselt, Klee, and several others), are to be rejected because the correct reading is (see critical notes). Luthardt: that my joy may have its cause and object in you (not in anything else). This is grammatically correct ( of causal foundation): the , however, which is subsequently said of the joy of the disciples, presupposes that in the first clause the joy of the disciples themselves , the consummation of which is intended, is already indicated; otherwise would remain without corresponding correlation. Had the object been merely to express the reciprocity of the joy, we would necessarily have expected in the second half simply: . See, in answer to Luthardt, also Hofmann, Schriftbew . II. 2, p. 325 f.
If Christ’s joy is in His own, their joy will be thereby completed (comp. Joh 3:29 ), developed to its full measure in contents, purity, strength, victoriousness, etc. Comp. Joh 16:24 ; 1Jn 1:4 ; 2Jn 1:12 . Hence: . . .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1694
CHRISTIANITY INTENDED TO PROMOTE OUR HAPPINESS
Joh 15:11. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
THOUGH every possible perfection was exhibited in its brightest colours in the person of our Lord, yet the most striking feature of his character was benevolence. Like the sun in its course, he diffused blessings wherever he went, and laboured with indefatigable zeal to promote the good of mankind. By his discourses as well as by his miracles he sought to advance the happiness of his followers. In the passage before us he assures his Disciples that this was the one end of the instructions he had given them. That we may improve this gracious declaration, let us inquire,
I.
What things he had spoken to them
We do not apprehend that he refers to his discourses in general, but to the things which he had been just uttering
The doctrinal part of what he had spoken related to their union with him
[He illustrates their union with him by the similitude of a vine and its branches; and informs them that their fruitfulness in good works depended entirely upon their receiving of grace from him [Note: ver. 16.]. This is the most sublime, and the most important doctrine of our holy religion. It is, alas! too commonly overlooked, even by those who think themselves well versed in the truths of Christianity. It does not so much as enter into the mind of Christians in general. They have no idea what is meant by an union with the Lord Jesus Christ. They have some general notion that we are to be saved by him; but, in what manner, they know not. But this doctrine cannot be too attentively considered, seeing that it is the very corner-stone of our religion the one means of procuring us an interest in Christ and the only method by which we can derive any blessings from him ]
The preceptive part directed them how to secure the full advantages of that union
[Some might possibly infer from the foregoing representation, that the Disciples of Christ were secure by virtue of their union with him, even though they should not exert themselves at all in the way of duty. He therefore cautions his Disciples against any such mistake. He bids them to abide in him by the continual exercise of faith, and to approve themselves to him by a diligent observance of his commandments [Note: ver. 4, 10.]. These injunctions mark the duty of all his followers. If on the one hand we must not depend on ourselves, but receive continual supplies of grace out of his fulness; so neither on the other hand are we to be supine as though we had nothing to do. We must go to him in fervent prayer rely upon him with unshaken affiance and labour to serve him with our whole hearts ]
After having delivered these instructions our Lord condescended to declare,
II.
For what end he spake them
The slightest alteration in our translation of the text will both remove an appearance of tautology, and suggest some very important reflections [Note: Construe with My joy in you.]
Our Lord desired to confirm the joy that he and his Disciples mutually communicated and received
[Our Lord rejoiced exceedingly in his Disciples, even as a bridegroom over his bride [Note: See the figurative representations, Luk 15:4; Luk 15:9; Luk 15:24. but especially Isa 62:5.]. His delight in all his people is as great as language can possibly express [Note: Isa 65:18-19. Zep 3:17.]. As a mother forgets her pangs when she beholds her first-born, so is our Lord satisfied with the travail of his soul, when he beholds those whom he has redeemed with his blood [Note: Isa 53:11.]. The prospect of saving them was his great support when he endured all the shame and misery of crucifixion [Note: Heb 12:2.]. Now, if his Disciples should turn back from the faith, his soul can have no more pleasure in them [Note: Heb 10:38.]. But he is not willing to resign this happiness, and to feel all the painful sensations which their apostasy would occasion. He wept even over his blood-thirsty enemies: how much more would his soul be filled with anguish if any of his elect were left to perish! To guard effectually against this calamity, he shewed to his Disciples, and left on record for our instruction, both the privilege and the duty of all his followers; the privilege, to abide in him; the duty, to obey his commandments.
As he rejoices in his Disciples, so do they in him. It is the most distinguishing feature of true Christians, that they rejoice in Christ Jesus [Note: Php 3:3.]. Some are so highly favoured that they rejoice in him with an unspeakable and glorified joy [Note: 1Pe 1:8.]. Nor would Jesus wish them ever to lose that joy. He would rather that what they now possess should be perfected in heaven. But, alas! how would it all vanish in an instant, if by any means they should be moved from their steadfastness! That they might never thus cast away the rejoicing of their hope, but hold it firm unto the end, and finally obtain a full reward, he opened to them whatever might conduce to the comfort of their minds or the encouragement of their souls.]
His instructions were admirably calculated to promote this end
[What could be more encouraging to his Disciples at that time, or indeed at any time, than to know that there was a fulness of grace treasured up for them in him? What more consoling than to know that they were united to him as branches to a vine? How trivial would they think any losses that they might sustain, or any trials they might endure, when they had such provision and security in Christ Jesus! The caution also that was given them would of necessity operate to make them watchful. Thus would they be preserved both from open and secret declensions, and be to their Lord for a praise, and for an everlasting name that should not be cut off [Note: Isa 55:13.].]
Infer
1.
How erroneous is the idea that religion tends to make us melancholy!
[A religious person may have a constitution that inclines to melancholy as well as any other person; or he may he rendered melancholy by mistaken views of religion. But let not the blame in either of these cases attach to religion. We are assured that the Gospel, so far from producing such an effect, is glad tidings of great joy to all peopleit enjoins us all to rejoice in the Lord always; and, where it is best understood, and most experienced, namely, in heaven, the most exalted joy abounds universally without the smallest intermission. Let then this prejudice be for ever banished; and let Christians be careful so to walk in delightful fellowship with Jesus, as to shew to the world that his yoke is easy and his burthen light.]
2.
How precious ought the Scriptures to be in our eyes!
[It is in them that Jesus, being dead, yet speaketh to us; and if we will attend to his instructions, they will make us wise unto salvation. The intent of every word he there utters, is, to secure us to himself, and to make us eternally happy with himself in heaven. Why then do we not love the Scriptures more? Why do we give such a decided preference to books of human composition, yea, perhaps to plays, or novels, or the common publications of the day? Let us no longer treat with such indignity that sacred volume. Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom [Note: Col 3:16.]; and let us, like the prophet, eat it, that it may be the joy and rejoicing of our heart [Note: Jer 15:16.]. Especially let us regard what it speaks of our union with the living vine. Let us seek to be ingrafted into Christ; that, deriving sap and nourishment from him, we may be fitted for every good work, and bring forth fruit unto life eternal.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Ver. 11. These things have I spoken, that, &c. ] Sound joy is wrought in the heart by the hearing of the word; “Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken” (with the sense of sin amd fear of wrath) “may rejoice,”Psa 51:8Psa 51:8 . And God creates the fruit of the lips to be peace, Isa 57:19 .
That my joy may remain in you ] The temporary’s joy, as it is groundless, like weeds that grow on the top of the water, so it is but frothy and flashy, such as may wet the mouth, but not warm the heart, smooth the brow, but not fill the breast: like a sligbt dash of rain, or a handful of brushwood, &c., Ecc 7:6 . The true Christian’s joy is full and firm, solid and substantial, Gaudium in re, gaudium in spe, gaudium de possessione, guadium de promissione. Joy in the matter, joy in hope, joy in the possession, joy in the promise. He hath still enough to make him everlastingly merry under whatsoever misery. He can turn into his counting house, and find there sufficient to sustain him, as David did, 1Sa 30:6 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11. ] . again proleptic, hastening to the end of the discourse, and treating it as ended.
, not “ joy concerning Me ” (Euthym [212] ), nor “ joy derived from Me ” (De Wette), nor “ My joy over you ” (Aug [213] , Lampe, Lcke, former edd.), but My joy, properly speaking (see 2Co 2:3 , ): “His own holy exultation, the joy of the Son in the consciousness of the love of God, of His Unity with the Father: see Joh 15:10 .” (Lcke, 3rd edn.)
[212] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
[213] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430
. . . . ] That their joy might, by the indwelling of that His Joy , be uplifted and ennobled ( ) even to fulness, to the extreme of their capability and satisfaction, and might remain so.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 15:11 . The great joy of His life had been found in the consciousness of the Father’s love and in the keeping of His commandments: this joy He desires that they may inherit, , “my joy,” i.e. , the joy I have enjoyed, the joy which I habitually feel in accomplishing the Father’s will. This joy is not an incommunicable monopoly. , “and your joy be full,” which it could not be until they, like Him, had the spring of full joy in the consciousness of His love, and perfect obedience to Him; standing in the same relation to Him as He to the Father.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Proverbs – John
ABIDING IN LOVE
HOLLOW LAUGHTER, SOLID JOY
Pro 14:13
A poet, who used to be more fashionable than he is now, pronounces ‘happiness’ to be our being’s end and aim. That is not true, except under great limitations and with many explanations. It may be regarded as God’s end, but it is ruinous to make it man’s aim. It is by no means the highest conception of the Gospel to say that it makes men happy, however true it may be. The highest is that it makes them good. I put these two texts together, not only because they bring out the contrast between the laughter which is hollow and fleeting and the joy which is perfect and perpetual, but also because they suggest to us the difference in kind and object between earthly and heavenly joys; which difference underlies the other between the boisterous laughter in which is no mirth and no continuance and the joy which is deep and abiding.
In the comparison which I desire to make between these two texts we must begin with that which is deepest, and consider-
I. The respective objects of earthly and heavenly joy.
Nor must we forget that ‘My joy’ co-existed with a profound experience of sorrow to which no human sorrow was ever like. Let us not forget that, while His joy filled His soul to the brim, He was ‘acquainted with grief’; and let us not wonder if the strange surface contradiction is repeated in ourselves. It is more Christlike to have inexpressibly deep joy with surface sorrow, than to have a shallow laughter masking a hurtful sorrow.
We have to set the sources of earthly gladness side by side with those of Christ’s joy to be aware of a contrast. His sprang from within, the world’s is drawn from without. His came from union with the Father, the world’s largely depends on ignoring God. His needed no supplies from the gratifications ministered by sense, and so independent of the presence or absence of such; the world’s need the constant contributions of outward good, and when these are cut off they droop and die. He who depends on outward circumstances for his joy is the slave of externals and the sport of time and chance.
II. The Christian’s joy is full, the world’s partial.
But when Christ’s joy remains in us our joy will be full. Its flowing tide will rush into and placidly occupy all the else oozy shallows of our hearts, even into the narrowest crannies its penetrating waters will pass, and everywhere will bring a flashing surface that will reflect in our hearts the calm blue above. We need nothing else if we have Christ and His joy within us. If we have everything else, we need His joy within us, else ours will never be full.
III. The heavenly joys are perpetual, the earthly joys transient.
There is a realm where abide ‘fullness of joy and pleasures for ever more.’ Surely they order their lives most wisely who look for their joys to nothing that earth holds, and have taken for their own the ancient vow: ‘Though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine. . .. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.’ If ‘My joy’ abides in us in its calm and changeless depth, our joy will be ‘full’ whatever our circumstances may be; and we shall hear at last the welcome: ‘Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
My joy = the joy that is mine (emph.) Three times in John, here, Joh 3:29, and Joh 17:13.
remain = abide. Greek meno as above, but all the texts read “be”.
your joy. As He gave them His peace (Joh 14:27), so He seeks to make them partakers of His joy.
might be full = may be fulfilled: i.e. filled full.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11.] . again proleptic, hastening to the end of the discourse, and treating it as ended.
, not joy concerning Me (Euthym[212]), nor joy derived from Me (De Wette), nor My joy over you (Aug[213], Lampe, Lcke, former edd.), but My joy, properly speaking (see 2Co 2:3, ): His own holy exultation, the joy of the Son in the consciousness of the love of God, of His Unity with the Father: see Joh 15:10. (Lcke, 3rd edn.)
[212] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
[213] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 395-430
. . . .] That their joy might, by the indwelling of that His Joy, be uplifted and ennobled () even to fulness,-to the extreme of their capability and satisfaction,-and might remain so.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 15:11. , My joy) the joy which I feel at My departure to the Father, a joy which flows from love.-, may be[360]) ch. Joh 17:26, I have declared unto them Thy name, etc., that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them and I in them.-, your) your joy being kindled by Mine.-, may be fulfilled [might be full]) This is said of the joy of the disciples. For the joy of Jesus needs not at any particular time, or by any particular to be made full [It always is full].
[360] This reading indeed had been set down, in the margin of the larger Ed., among those not to be approved of; but the decision as to it being changed in the 2d Edition, it was received into the Germ. Version.-E. B. ABDabc Vulg. read : Rec. Text, , without old authority.-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 15:11
Joh 15:11
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you,-Jesus spoke these things to them before he left them, that the joy that he possessed in keeping his Fathers commandments might remain with them. Jesus possessed a joy and a peace that no sufferings or evil surroundings, not even the sufferings of the cross could disturb. Paul, in speaking of the sufferings of Jesus, says; Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12:2). [Thoughtfully he thinks back over the address and states why it was delivered. The exquisite joy that he feels in the consciousness of obedience to his Father, and the Fathers approving love on account of that obedience produced that joy.]
and that your joy may be made full.-Jesus wished that they might be filled with the same joy and comfort to bear them up in the distress that would come upon them in his death and the persecutions that would come upon them for his sake. [That a corresponding joy on their part may be made complete in their consciousness that they are sincerely and constantly endeavoring to do his will.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
my: Isa 53:11, Isa 62:4, Jer 32:41, Jer 33:9, Zep 3:17, Luk 15:5, Luk 15:9, Luk 15:23, Luk 15:32, 1Jo 1:4
your: Joh 16:24, Joh 16:33, Joh 17:13, Rom 15:13, 2Co 1:24, Eph 5:18, Phi 1:25, 1Th 5:16, 1Pe 1:8, 2Jo 1:12
Reciprocal: Deu 30:9 – rejoice over thee 1Ch 29:9 – David Pro 23:15 – even mine Son 3:11 – in the day of the Mat 26:29 – until Joh 14:25 – have Joh 15:9 – continue Joh 16:1 – General Phi 2:1 – any consolation
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
CHRISTIAN JOY
These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Joh 15:11
In the chapter from which our text is taken we see that one result of God becoming Man is that man may be united to God. Observe the close identity of Christ with the believer and the believer with Christthat My joy might remain in you. The joy of which the Saviour spoke was like the echo of the joy of heaven, and He wished it to remain with His disciples.
Let me indicate two or three elements of this joy which the Saviour willed, as His last boon, to give to His disciples.
I. Christian joy is grateful.The first of them shall be that Christian joy is ever grateful. Nothing is more striking, I had almost said more saddening, than to see how the children of the world enjoy themselves in their dissipations, and never once stay to inquire by Whom it is, or for what purpose, that so much happiness is vouchsafed to them; but in the Bible it is ever gratitude which appears as a mark of the Christian character. Be ye thankful. In everything give thanks. Would you know, says William Law, the author of The Serious Call, who is the greatest saint? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice. He it is who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God willeth, who receives everything as an instance of Gods goodness, and has a heart always to praise God for it.
II. Christian joy is diffusive.Again, Christian joysanctified joyis and must ever be diffusive. The Saviour Himself would not keep His joy to Himself. That My joy, He says, might remain in you. The Christian character is like the candle that sheds light around it, even though it be wasted in the shedding. You will not dispute that this present age more than any other has need of such diffusive joy, for the circumstances of modern life no doubt tend to broaden and deepen the gulf between the classes of society, and it is not in the power of legislation to bridge that gulf, for it is in the main a matter of feeling and habit; but when we look for the unifying agencies that influence society we find them above all in those persons like the doctors or the clergy, or the sisters of mercy, or the nurses, who give not their time only or their thought, but themselves to the poor. Yes, and we find them, too, in the disinterested ministry among cultivated gentlemen and ladies who now spend some partit may be not a small partof their leisure in serving their poorer brethren.
III. Christian joy is solemnising.Once again, Christian sanctified joy is a solemnising thing. We are apt to think of joy as if it were something to be used in mere wanton merriment, but in truth as there is nothing to the devout soul more humbling than success, so there is nothing more solemnising than joy. Take my word, says St. Augustine, true joy is a serious matter. It is serious because of its contrast with the distress of the many thousands of people who are Gods children as surely as we are. If we reflect that in the great cities of this country some twenty-five or thirty per cent of the population are living without the indispensable comforts of life it is difficult, perhaps, to enjoy ourselves unreservedly. And joy, Christian joy, is serious too, because the root of it is submission to the holy will of God. We receive at His hands what we call good; shall we not also receive what we call evil? After all, He Who knows best will give the best. And the joy is serious, I think, because of its proximity to that sorrow which, like joy itself, perhaps even more than joy itself, is an abiding feature of human life. But in the sorrows and bereavements of life we are not as those who have no hope. And ever for the Christian soul there springs up light in the darkness. His joy is eternal, as Christ Himself is eternal. It transcends even the sorrow of the grave.
Bishop Welldon.
Illustration
Towards the close of Bishop Westcotts last illness, when his strength was failing, he asked for the days Psalms to be read to him. At first the Bishop tried to say the alternate verses, but this was more than he could do, so he listened, and joined in the Gloria. When this reading was finished, the Bishop, after thanking his daughters, very lovingly, added, All I can do is a little bit of praise. Just a little bit of praise. They were almost the last words, the last effort of his lifeJust a little bit of praise. His joy was full.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1
Jesus was about to be crucified, yet he speaks of his joy; Paul refers to this joy in Heb 12:2. Jesus would never pretend having a joy that he could not or did not have, and the joy attributed to him was not the literal experience of the scenes at the cross, for the very anticipation of that ordeal caused his sweat to coagulate while in the garden (Luk 22:44). The joy was over what He knew would result from the great sacrifice. He wished this joy to be shared by his apostles, and that was why he had taken so much care about giving them an abundance of information.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 15:11. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be fulfilled. My joy must be interpreted in the same way as My peace at chap, Joh 14:27. It is the joy which Jesus possessed as anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows, which flowed from His uninterrupted possession of His Fathers love (Joh 15:9), which was ever and again renewed as He felt that He was accomplishing His Fathers will (Joh 15:10), which was crowned in that uninterrupted intercourse with His Father in which He asked and received whatsoever He desired (chap. Joh 11:42), and which filled His heart amidst all the trials and sorrows of His work on earth (comp. Luk 10:21). That very joy He will communicate to His disciples, and their joy will be then fulfilled. Like Him who went before them, they shall see of the travail of their soul and shall be satisfied. The arrangement of the words in the original of this verse, by which my is brought into the closest juxtaposition with in you, is worthy of notice (comp. chap. Joh 14:1; Joh 14:3).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
In these words our Saviour declares the ground and reason why he did so earnestly press and urge the duty of being universally fruitful upon his disciples, and that was two-fold:
1. That his joy might remain in them; that is, that the joy which he had in their holiness and obedience might remain with him: nothing is more desired by Christ, than that he may have cause continually to rejoice in the faith and fruitfulness of his people.
2. That their joy in him might be full. This latter arises from the former; our joy in Christ results from Christ’s joy in us; his delight in us causes us abundantly to delight in him.
Learn hence, That nothing is more desired by Christ, than that the joy of his people should be a full, solid, constant, and uninterrupted joy.
3. That the only way and mean, in order thereunto, is by an holy fruitfulness in good works; All these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
The observation of God’s commandments does give a Christian here the fullest and most perfect joy.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Verse 11
In you; in regard to you; as if it were, “That my joy in you might remain,” &c.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Loving obedience is the cause of the disciple’s fruitfulness, but joy is its result. The fullness of believers’ joy was John’s purpose for writing his first epistle, as it was Jesus’ purpose in giving this discourse (1Jn 1:4). Specifically Jesus had told His disciples that joy would follow their obedience to His teachings (Joh 15:10). He intended His teachings to produce freedom and joy, not bondage and grief (cf. Joh 10:10; Mat 11:30).
"How can we tell when we are ’abiding in Christ’? Is there a special feeling? No, but there are special evidences that appear and they are unmistakably clear. For one thing, when you are abiding in Christ, you produce fruit (Joh 15:2). . . . Also, you experience the Father’s ’pruning’ so that you will bear more fruit (Joh 15:2). The believer who is abiding in Christ has his prayers answered (Joh 15:7) and experiences a deepening love for Christ and for other believers (Joh 15:9; Joh 15:12-13). He also experiences joy (Joh 15:11)." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:355.]