The Meaning of John 15:9 Explained

John 15:9

KJV: As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

YLT: According as the Father did love me, I also loved you, remain in my love;

Darby: As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you: abide in my love.

ASV: Even as the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you: abide ye in my love.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

As  the Father  hath loved  me,  so  have  I  loved  you:  continue ye  in  my  love. 

What does John 15:9 Mean?

Context Summary

John 15:1-9 - The Condition Of Fruitfulness
The vine is not able to do its work in the world without its branches; they stretch far from the root, to bear its strength and sweetness to those who stand outside the wall, Genesis 49:22. We need the Lord Jesus, but He also needs us. Without us He cannot bless men as He would. What a sublime thought is here-that Jesus needs something which I can yield Him! Service to God and man is possible only through abiding union in Him. Let us yield ourselves to be pruned by the Word, that we may not need the pruning of awful sorrows. It is said that three out of five of the vine-berries are cut off that the remainder may attain their full size. How many of our own promptings have to be excised in order that our best fruit may be yielded!
We cannot be severed from Christ, our covenant head, when once we are truly united to Him for salvation; but we may cease to abide in Him for the supply of grace and power in ministry. Abide in me, says the vine to the branch. Do not allow the aperture to become choked, and I will cause the sap to pulsate through thee. Abide in me, says the Lord, and I will be in thee strength in thy weakness, love in thy lovelessness, grace and beauty in thy uncomeliness. "From me is thy fruit found," Hosea 14:8. [source]

Chapter Summary: John 15

1  The union of Jesus and his members shown under the parable of a vine
18  The hatred of the world
26  The office of the Holy Spirit

Greek Commentary for John 15:9

Abide [μεινατε]
Constative first aorist active imperative of μενω — menō summing up the whole. In my love Subjunctive possessive pronoun, “in the love that I have for you.” Our love for Christ is the result of Christ‘s love for us and is grounded at bottom in the Father‘s love for the world (John 3:16). John has εμος — emos 37 times and always in the words of Jesus (Bernard). But he uses μου — mou also (John 15:10). [source]
In my love [ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ τῇ ἐμῇ]
Literally, in the love, that which is mine. Not only the love of the disciple for Christ, nor the love of Christ for the disciple, but the Christ-principle of love which includes both. See the same form of expression in the joy that is mine, John 15:11; John 3:29; John 17:13; the judgment (John 5:30; John 8:16); the commandments (John 14:15); peace (John 14:27). [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for John 15:9

John 8:31 In my word [ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐμῷ]
Literally, in the word which is mine: peculiarly mine, characteristic of me. The expression is intentionally stronger than my word. Compare my love (John 15:9). [source]
John 17:17 Thy word [ὁ λόγος ο σὸς]
Properly, the word which is thine. See on John 15:9. [source]
John 15:11 My joy []
The joy that is mine; characteristic of me. See on John 15:9. [source]
John 5:42 But I know you [αλλα εγνωκα υμας]
Perfect active indicative of γινωσκω — ginōskō “I have come to know and still know,” the knowledge of personal experience (John 2:24.). The love o‘ God Objective genitive, “the love toward God.” See Luke 11:42 for this phrase in the same sense (only other instance in the Gospels, but common in 1John (1 John 2:5; 1 John 3:17; 1 John 4:7, 1 John 4:9; 1 John 5:3) and in 2 Thessalonians 3:5; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Romans 5:5. The sense of God‘s love for man occurs in 1 John 3:1; 1 John 4:9, 1 John 4:10, 1 John 4:16; John 15:9. of Christ‘s love for man. These rabbis did not love God and hence did not love Christ. [source]
1 John 4:16 Dwelleth in love, etc. []
See John 15:9, John 15:10. Rev., abideth. [source]
1 John 2:5 Is the love of God perfected [ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ τετελείωται]
Rev., rendering the perfect tense more closely, hath the love of God been perfected. The change in the form of this antithetic clause is striking. He who claims to know God, yet lives in disobedience, is a liar. We should expect as an offset to this: He that keepeth His commandments is of the truth; or, the truth is in him. Instead we have, “In him has the love of God been perfected.” In other words, the obedient child of God is characterized, not by any representative trait or quality of his own personality, but merely as the subject of the work of divine love: as the sphere in which that love accomplishes its perfect work. The phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ the love of God, may mean either the love which God shows, or the love of which God is the object, or the love which is characteristic of God whether manifested by Himself or by His obedient child through His Spirit. John's usage is not decisive like Paul's, according to which the love of God habitually means the love which proceeds from and is manifested by God. The exact phrase, the love of God or the love of the Father, is found in 1 John 3:16; 1 John 4:9, in the undoubted sense of the love of God to men. The same sense is intended in 1 John 3:1, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 3:16, though differently expressed. The sense is doubtful in 1 John 2:5; 1 John 3:17; 1 John 4:12. Men's love to God is clearly meant in 1 John 2:15; 1 John 5:3. The phrase occurs only twice in the Gospels (Luke 6:42; John 5:42), and in both cases the sense is doubtful. Some, as Ebrard, combine the two, and explain the love of God as the mutual relation of love between God and men. It is not possible to settle the point decisively, but I incline to the view that the fundamental idea of the love of God as expounded by John is the love which God has made known and which answers to His nature. In favor of this is the general usage of ἀγάπη lovein the New Testament, with the subjective genitive. The object is more commonly expressed by εἰς towardsor to. See 1 Thessalonians 3:12; Colossians 1:4; 1 Peter 4:8. Still stronger is John's treatment of the subject in ch. 4. Here we have, 1 John 4:9, the manifestation of the love of God in us ( ἐν ἡμῖν ) By our life in Christ and our love to God we are a manifestation of God's love. Directly following this is a definition of the essential nature of love. “In this is love; i.e., herein consists love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us ” (1 John 4:10). Our mutual love is a proof that God dwells in us. God dwelling in us, His love is perfected in us (1 John 4:12). The latter clause, it would seem, must be explained according to 1 John 4:10. Then (1 John 4:16), “We have known and believed the love that God hath in us ” (see on John 16:22, on the phrase have love ). “God is love;” that is His nature, and He imparts this nature to be the sphere in which His children dwell. “He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God.” Finally, our love is engendered by His love to us. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
In harmony with this is John 15:9. “As the Father loved me, I also loved you. Continue ye in my love.” My love must be explained by I loved you. This is the same idea of divine love as the sphere or element of renewed being; and this idea is placed, as in the passage we are considering, in direct connection with the keeping of the divine commandments. “If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love.”-DIVIDER-
This interpretation does not exclude man's love to God. On the contrary, it includes it. The love which God has, is revealed as the love of God in the love of His children towards Him, no less than in His manifestations of love to them. The idea of divine love is thus complex. Love, in its very essence, is reciprocal. Its perfect ideal requires two parties. It is not enough to tell us, as a bare, abstract truth, that God is love. The truth must be rounded and filled out for us by the appreciable exertion of divine love upon an object, and by the response of the object. The love of God is perfected or completed by the perfect establishment of the relation of love between God and man. When man loves perfectly, his love is the love of God shed abroad in his heart. His love owes both its origin and its nature to the love of God. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
The word verily ( ἀληθῶς ) is never used by John as a mere formula of affirmation, but has the meaning of a qualitative adverb, expressing not merely the actual existence of a thing, but its existence in a manner most absolutely corresponding to ἀλήθεια truthCompare John 1:48; John 8:31. Hath been perfected. John is presenting the ideal of life in God. “This is the love of God that we keep His commandments.” Therefore whosoever keepeth God's word, His message in its entirety, realizes the perfect relation of love. [source]

What do the individual words in John 15:9 mean?

As has loved Me the Father I also you have loved Abide in the love - of Me
Καθὼς ἠγάπησέν με Πατήρ κἀγὼ ὑμᾶς ἠγάπησα μείνατε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ τῇ ἐμῇ

ἠγάπησέν  has  loved 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἀγαπάω  
Sense: of persons.
με  Me 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Accusative 1st Person Singular
Root: ἐγώ  
Sense: I, me, my.
Πατήρ  Father 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: προπάτωρ 
Sense: generator or male ancestor.
κἀγὼ  I  also 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Nominative 1st Person Singular
Root: κἀγώ  
Sense: and I.
ἠγάπησα  have  loved 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: ἀγαπάω  
Sense: of persons.
μείνατε  Abide 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Active, 2nd Person Plural
Root: μένω  
Sense: to remain, abide.
ἀγάπῃ  love 
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular
Root: ἀγάπη  
Sense: brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence.
τῇ  - 
Parse: Article, Dative Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἐμῇ  of  Me 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative Feminine 1st Person Singular
Root: ἐμός  
Sense: my, mine, etc.