by Neibert David
In the Bible, there are various words in the original text that are translated for the one English word “love”. These different words are noted in the original language Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament.
One such word for love in the New Testament is Agapaō. Agapaō is found in many verses of Scripture in the New Testament, however, this article discusses its reference in John 15:9a. Agapaō means general and broad love, friendliness, and affection towards others.
Love is an action word: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16. Therefore, to better understand “a general and broad love” and love in general as it is stated in John 15:9a, this article studies the actions of the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 15:9a says – “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you;” Since the Father’s relationship with the Lord was mostly invisible to the writers of the New Testament, reviewing how the Lord loved His disciples will bring understanding as to how He was also loved by the Father.
When the word agapaō is substituted for its meaning in Greek, then the Lord said in John 15:9a “As the Father (has) general and broad love, friendliness, and affection towards Me, I also (have) general and broad love, friendliness, and affection towards you”. In other words, the Lord was saying that in the same way that the Father loved Him, He in turn has loved His disciples.
If we read the Gospel of John and the other gospels, we will see how the Lord Jesus loved His disciples through His interaction with them. The following are ways in which He loved them. Please note this is not an exhaustive list:
1. The Lord Jesus Christ chose them. He selected them to be with Him from the multitudes of people who were living in Palestine at that time. In other words, He made a conscious decision to call each of them to be with Him for the three years of His public ministry. He called them into an intimate personal space of His life. From this intimate place, He loved them and trained them.
In John 15:16a, the Lord said: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you”.
2. He spent lots of time with them. Biblical scholars have agreed that the Lord Jesus’ public ministry lasted for about three and one/half (3½) years. This timeline includes “His resurrection, 40 days of appearances, and ascension”[i]. During this time, His disciples were with Him every day as they walked from town to town. They would have gotten to know Him on a personal level as well as on a ministry level.
3. The Lord Jesus was patient with His disciples. Mark 9:17-19 says: “Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” The Lord was committed to repeatedly demonstrating to His disciples how to help and heal people even when He had shown them many times before. In His patience, He was building their confidence that they too could do what He did.
4. He empowered them. Luke 10:1-3 says: “After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.”
The Lord Jesus Christ did not paralyze them by making them dependent on Him for their every move. He empowered them by:
- Training them when He shared His stories or parables. In sharing His stories, He was sowing seeds of what they should be doing with their lives and how they should be acting and reacting in any given situation.
- As we read these parables and stories, they are also training us in the present day as they trained the Lord’s disciples.
- This is why we read the Bible, this is why we study the Word so that we can learn life lessons that are contained in the parables.
- He answered their questions. The disciples were free to ask clarifying questions and for the most part, the Lord answered them.
- He showed them how He wanted them to help people by demonstrating it in their presence. They constantly observed what He did.
- – He provided an example for them of how to:
- – Pray
- – Communion with the heavenly Father daily
- – Heal people
- – Deliver people
- – Encourage other people to pursue God
- – Point other people to the way of eternal life.
5. He gave them responsibility. By giving them responsibility, the Lord was building their self-assurance. For example, Judas Iscariot was the treasurer or keeper of the money bag, and Peter paid taxes for the Lord and himself. Matthew 17:27 – “Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”
6. He cared for them by caring for what concerned them. The Lord Jesus Christ healed Peter’s mother-in-law in Luke 4:38-39. The Scriptures note: “Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her. So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.”
7. He demonstrated forgiveness to all His disciples when He appeared to them after His resurrection in John 20:19-23. John 20:22b-23 notes that the Lord Jesus breathes “on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
The Lord telling them about forgiving others right after He imparts Holy Spirit on them reflects Him forgiving them for abandoning Him in His time of need – at the time of His crucifixion. This also occurs right after He proclaimed peace on them twice.
8. He authorized, sanctioned, and empowered them when in (John 20:22) He filled them with Holy Spirit by breathing on them saying: “Receive the Holy Spirit”.
Additionally, in (Acts 1:8), the Lord Jesus spoke about the empowerment that they would receive when He said – “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” In Acts 2:1-12 – the prophecy from the Lord Jesus Christ was fulfilled.
9. At the end of training and empowering His disciples, the Lord Jesus Christ commissioned them with a charge and with specific instructions when He said in Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJ) – “All authority (KJ says: all power) has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
10. In His commissioning, charging, and empowering them with Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ gave them freedom and enabled them to full their mission.
11. In His commission, the Lord also promised never to leave them alone. He promised to be with them “always, even to the end of the age” – Matthew 28:20b. The Lord was with them and will be with all of those who become His disciples in the future for as long as the earth remains or until He comes again.
12. He also demonstrated confidence that they could and will do what He empowered them to do. John 15:16 – “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”
There are approximately 2.3 billion Christians in the world today representing 31.11% of the world’s population, and the Lord Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit are still alive and well. Therefore, the fruit that the disciples bore has and continues to remain. Their mission to propagate the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has been very successful.
Questions:
- Was the Father successful in His mission to love the Son into fulfilling His purpose on earth?
- Was the Son successful in His mission to love His disciples into fulfilling their purpose on earth as the Father loved Him into fulfilling His purpose?
So how has the Father loved the Son, and the Son, in turn, loved His disciples? The Father loved the Son by training and empowering Him to fulfill His mission on earth. The Lord Jesus Christ in turn loved His disciples by training and empowering them to fulfill their purpose on earth.
How can we love and mentor others? We can love them by training, empowering, and commissioning them into their purpose like the Father did for the Son, and like the Son did and does for His disciples. As we follow this biblical model, may those that we love into purpose bear fruit that remains!
https://www.compellingtruth.org/length-Jesus-ministry.html – accessed – 10.20.2022
