John 15:11

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.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Proverbs - John

ABIDING IN LOVE

HOLLOW LAUGHTER, SOLID JOY

Pro 14:13. - Joh 15:11.

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.

Our Lord’s wonderful words suggest that they who accept His sayings, that they who have His word abiding in them, have in a very deep sense His joy implanted in their hearts, to brighten and elevate their joys as the sunshine flashes into silver the ripples of the lake. What then were the sources of the calm joys of ‘the Man of Sorrows’? Surely His was the perfect instance of ‘rejoicing in the Lord always’-an unbroken communion with the Father. The consciousness that the divine pleasure ever rested on Him, and that all His thoughts, emotions, purposes, and acts were in perfect harmony with the perfect will of the perfect God, filled His humanity up to the very brim with gladness which the world could not take away, and which remains for us for ever as a type to which all our gladness must be conformed if it is to be worthy of Him and of us. As one of the Psalmists says, God is to be ‘the gladness of our joy.’ It is in Him, gazed upon by the faith and love of an obedient spirit, sought after by aspiration and possessed inwardly in peaceful communion, confirmed by union with Him in the acts of daily obedience, that the true joy of every human life is to be realised. They who have drunk of this deep fountain of gladness will not express their joy in boisterous laughter, which is the hollower the louder it is, and the less lasting the more noisy, but will manifest itself ‘in the depth and not the tumult of the soul.’

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.

All human joys touch but part of our nature, the divine fills and satisfies all. In the former there is always some portion of us unsatisfied, like the deep pits on the moon’s surface into which no light shines, and which show black on the silver face. No human joys wait to still conscience, which sits at the banquet like the skeleton that Egyptian feasters set at their tables. The old story told of a magician’s palace blazing with lighted windows, but there was always one dark;-what shrouded figure sat behind it? Is there not always a surly ‘elder brother’ who will not come in however the musicians may pipe and the servants dance? Appetite may be satisfied, but what of conscience, and reason, and the higher aspirations of the soul? The laughter that echoes through the soul is the hollower the louder it is, and reverberates most through empty spaces.

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.

Many of our earthly joys die in the very act of being enjoyed. Those which depend on the gratification of some appetite expire in fruition, and at each recurrence are less and less complete. The influence of habit works in two ways to rob all such joys of their power to minister to us-it increases the appetite and decreases the power of the object to satisfy. Some are followed by swift revulsion and remorse; all soon become stale; some are followed by quick remorse; some are necessarily left behind as we go on in life. To the old man the pleasures of youth are but like children’s toys long since outgrown and left behind. All are at the mercy of externals. Those which we have not left we have to leave. The saddest lives are those of pleasure-seekers, and the saddest deaths are those of the men who sought for joy where it was not to be found, and sought for their gratification in a world which leaves them, and which they have to leave.

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.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 15:11. Ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμὴ, My joy) the joy which I feel at My departure to the Father, a joy which flows from love.—ᾖ, 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.”—ὑμῶν, your) your joy being kindled by Mine.—πληρωθῇ, 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 ᾖ: Rec. Text, μείνῃ, without old authority.—E. and T.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_15:11. Conclusion of the section Joh_15:1-10 (ταῦτα).

ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ, κ.τ.λ.] Note the juxtaposition of ἡ ἐμή and ἐν ὑμῖν; 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 Pauls writings also in the sense of Christ (1Co_7:30; 2Co_13:11; Php_2:17-18; Php_4:4; Rom_14:17; Gal_5:22). Yet ἡ ἐμή 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 ἡ ἐμή and ἐν ὑμῖν (comp. 2Co_2:3 : ὅτι ἡ ἐμὴ χαρὰ πάντων ὑμῶν ἐστιν). The explanations: mea de vobis laetitia (corresponding to χαίρειν ἐν; so Augustine, Schoettgen, Lampe, Kuinoel, Ebrard, Hengstenberg, and several others), or even: gaudium vestrum de me (Euth. Zigabenus, Grotius, Nösselt, Klee, and several others), are to be rejected because the correct reading is ᾖ (see critical notes). Luthardt: that my joy may have its cause and object in you (not in anything else). This is grammatically correct (ἐν of causal foundation): the πληρωθῇ, 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; πληρωθῇ 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: καὶ ἡ χαρὰ ὑμῶν ἐν ἐμοί. See, in answer to Luthardt, also Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 2, p. 325 f.

If Christs 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: κ. ἡ χαρὰ ὑμ. πληρωθῇ.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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, ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμὴ ἐν ὑμῖν μείνῃ , “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. καὶ ἡ χαρὰ ὑμῶν πληρωθῇ , “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.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. In these Last Discourses the phrase ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν recurs like a solemn refrain seven times (15:11, 16:1, 4, 6, 25, 33, 14:25), just as ἐγὼ κύριος λελάληκα recurs several times in Ezekiel (5:13, 15, 17, 6:10, 17:21, 24 etc.). The ἐγώ of dignity (see Introd., p. cxvii) is, however, not prefixed to λελάληκα in Jn. It is improbable that there is significance in there being seven repetitions of ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν and no more.2 16:6 is a reference to 16:5 “because I said these things”; and in 16:25 ἐν παροιμίαις comes between ταῦτα and λελάληκα, the emphasis being on the words “in proverbs” and not on “these things have I spoken.” See, for similar refrains, on 6:33, 39.

In each case ταῦτα refers to what has been said in the preceding sentences; and in three cases the purpose of the teaching is indicated, sc. that the disciples might have joy (15:11), that they might have peace (16:33), and that they might be warned of future persecution (16:1, 4).

To come back on a phrase in this way is thoroughly characteristic of the style of Jn.: cf. note on 3:16.

ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμή κτλ. Paul afterwards expressed the hope that his joy might be the joy of his disciples (2Co 2:3; cf. Php 2:2); but ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμὴ ἐν ὑμῖν ᾖ has a more mystical significance here. Jesus had spoken ταῦτα, i.e. ἐὰν τὰς ἐντολάς μου τηρήσητε, μενεῖτε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ τῇ ἐμῇ, and He now says that the purpose of His speaking these words was ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμὴ ἐν ὑμῖν ᾖ. For the joy of Christ must be shared by those who abide in His love. So shall their “joy be fulfilled” (cf. 16:24, and especially 17:13). This is a favourite expression of Jn.; cf. 1Jn 1:4 and 2Jn 1:12, as also Joh 3:29, where it is put into the mouth of John the Baptist.

The New Commandment to Love the Brethren (vv. 12-17)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 - πληρωθη, 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 εν εμοι to χαρα, and not to μεινη, 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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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, (Isaiah 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.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(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 Father’s 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 God’s 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 them—the loving and being loved of God—is 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.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This is my commandment, that ye love one another,.... Christ had been before speaking of his commandments; and he mentions this as the principal one, and to which all the rest may be reduced; for as the precepts of the second table of the moral law may be briefly comprehended in this one duty, love to our neighbour, so all the duties of Christianity, relative to one another, are reducible to this, by love to serve each other. This was the commandment which lay uppermost on Christ's heart, and which he knew, if attended to, the rest could not fail of being observed. The argument by which, and the manner in which, he presses it, is as before:

as I have loved you; than which nothing can be more strong and forcible; see Joh 13:34.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 51:8. 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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ver. 11 Joh_16:6. (8) The results of the union between Christ and his disciples.

Vers. 11-16. (a) To themselves. The Lord moves into another and wider development of the union between himself and his disciples. He drops the metaphor of the vine and the branches, and comes to the essence of the relation between them; that is, he does much to explain the meaning and nature of his abiding in them, and the character of the fruit which they were expected by the great Husbandman and Father to bring forth and ripen. A connection between the second section and the first is revealed in the new beginning.

These things I have spoken, and am still speaking, to you (perfect, not aorist) with this purpose, that the joy that is mine may be in you. This is variously explained. Augustine, "My joyfulness concerning you," which is scarcely the burden of the previous verses; Grotius, "Your delight in me," which would be somewhat tautologous; Calvin and De Wette, "The joyfulness capable of being produced in you by me, might be in you." But the words are more simply explained by Lange, Meyer, Lucke, Westcott, Alford, and Moulton, as the communication to his disciples of his own absolute and personal joy. "The joy that is mine," like "the peace which is mine," is graciously bestowed. A joy was set before him, the joy of perfect self-sacrifice, which gave to his present acts an intensity and fullness of bliss. It was this, in its motives and character and supernatural sweetness, which would be in them. If they receive his life into them, it will convey not only his peace, but that peace uprising and bursting into joy; and he adds, in order that your joy may be fulfilled, i.e. perfected, reach its highest expression, its fullness of contents and entire sufficiency for all needs. 1Jn_1:1-4 is the best commentary on this last clause. The Old Testament prophets had often spoken of Jehovah"s joy in his people, comparing it to the bridegroom"s joy, and the bride"s. (Isa_62:5 Zep_3:17) This entire idea is linked with Ver. 10; where the keeping of his commandments, from motives of love, will enable the disciples to "abide in his love." He now passes the whole law of the second table into the light of his joy and the power of his example.

Divine joy.

It seems at first sight singular that our Lord"s conversation, just at this solemn and pathetic crisis of his ministry, should be of joy. It seems as if consolation and peace were timely and appropriate themes, but as if the contrast between Christ"s approaching sufferings and the joy which he claims to possess and to impart were too marked. This, however, is a glorious paradox.

I THE ELEMENTS OF OUR SAVIOR"S JOY. His was:

1. The joy of self-sacrifice, which is unknown to the world, but of which Jesus has given us the one sublime example.

2. The joy of benevolence. He lost himself in those for whom he lived and died; their salvation was the inspiration of his endurance and the joy of his anticipation.

3. The joy of harmony with the Father"s purpose and of securing the Father"s approval.

II THE IMPARTATION OF OUR SAVIOR"S JOY.

1. It comes through the identification of the disciples, through faith, with the Master.

2. It consists in living sympathy with his mind and purposes.

3. It increases and is fulfilled through their active employment in his service. The joy of the Lord is commenced in fellowship of labor, and consummated in the vision and recompense of heaven.

III THE SUPERIORITY OF OUR SAVIOR"S JOY. If it is contrasted with the joy of the worldly and sinful, such a comparison will bring out its immeasurable superiority.

1. For it is joy dignified and worthy of a moral and spiritual nature, whilst worldly joy is largely that of the inferior part of our being.

2. It is satisfying, whilst he that drinketh of the springs of earth thirsts again.

3. It is eternal, being not only progressive upon earth, but consummated in heaven. "Earth"s joys grow dim, its glories fade away." But Christ"s joy is the joy which is immortal. T.

The joy of the Master and the joy of the disciples.

Notice

I THEIR DIFFERENCE.

1. One is the fountain; the other is the stream. All the joy of the disciples sprang from his. Apart from his joy there would be none for them. Although there is an inseparable connection between the fountain and the stream, between the cause and effect, between the sun and its light and heat, between the joy of Jesus and that of his disciples, yet there is a distinction, and such a one that the fountain will ever be a fountain, and the stream will ever be a stream. The joy of Jesus will ever be his own, and that of the disciples will ever be theirs as the stream from the fountain of joy.

2. One is independent; the other is not. The joy of Jesus, which was specially his own, was independent of that of his disciples; but theirs was dependent on his, as the stream is dependent on the fountain, and the branches on the vine. The sun would be a sun if all the planets were blotted out and all the stars fell. So much cannot be said of the planets and stars if the sun were extinguished. Jesus had a joy which was absolutely his own. As he had a glory with the Father before the world began, so he had joy which he could not but experience apart from human consequences and relationships. But the disciples had no such joy; theirs was dependent on, as it was derived from, his.

3. One is infinitely capacious; the other is not. It is finite. Jesus" joy, like himself, was infinite. No vessel can hold more than its fill. Thus the joys of men differ in degree according to their different capacities. The Divinity of Christ, the greatness and vastness of his work, the glory and dignity of his Person, and the perfection of his character, made him capable of infinite and boundless joy, compared with which the greatest joy of the most perfect disciple would be but a drop to the ocean, a ray to the sun, and an atom to the universe.

4. One is ever full; the other is not. The joy of Jesus was absolutely full and complete a continual flow with- out an ebb. True, he was "a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." But this was not his own. "Surely he bore our griefs," etc. His soul was continually joyous, and his nature continually happy. And now, when his earthly work was not actually completed, with the terrible battle and more than human pain before him, his soul was full of joy. The sorrow and grief were only waves on the surface, and dashing on the human side of his being; but down in the depths of his nature there was only joy in all its serenity, purity, and fullness. But not so the joy of the disciples. It was essentially incomplete. Only a spark, a flickering flame, already threatened with extinction by his departure.

II THEIR SAMENESS. Although distinct, so as to be spoken of separately as my joy" and "your joy," yet there is a similarity and a sameness.

1. They are the same in nature. The stream is of the same nature as the fountain, the drop as the ocean, the fruit as the tree. The joy of the disciples is of the same nature as that of Jesus.

2. They are the same in effect. Joy as an emotion is, pleasant, buoyant, happy, and inspiring. These were its effects in Jesus, and in a degree in his disciples. In the degree they experienced it, it made them happy in trouble, hopeful in sorrow, buoyant in depressed circumstances, and joyous even in tribulation. Pure joy is the same in its effects in the heart of the creature as in that of the Creator, in the heart of the disciple as in that of his Master.

3. They are the same in their sources. What were the sources of Jesus" joy, or what joy was his?

(1) The joy of conscious union with his Father. He was ever conscious of this. It never left him, even in the darkest hour and severest trials. "Ye shall leave me alone: but I am not alone, because the Father," etc. This ever filled him with confidence and joy.

(2) The joy of perfect obedience. Obedience to his Father"s will and commands, loyalty to his Father"s throne, and consecration to his Father"s work.

(3) The joy of perfect love. Love to his Father, to his disciples, and love of compassion to the world. The central passion of his heart and the ruling law of his nature was love, and this inevitably produced joy and happiness. His obedience was happy and joyous. It was the obedience of love. He could say, "Lo, I come to do," etc. It was delightful to come and do the Divine will while the law was in his heart of love. There is no joy without love; and in the degree we love we are joyous.

(4) The joy of perfect self-sacrifice. The love of Christ was not of the ordinary kind, but of the highest kind the greatest and most disinterested, resulting in the greatest self-sacrifice. And the greater the self-sacrifice the greater the joy. In Christ both were perfect.

(5) The joy of unswerving confidence of triumph and success. He never had the least doubt as to the ultimate success of his mission and the result of his coming, although no one was ever so severely tried. His own rejected and crucified him; but, in spite of this, his joy was unruffled, his happiness was unmarred, and his confidence in God, and the justice and success of his cause, was unshaken. These were the sources of his joy; and they are the sources of the joy of all his followers the joy of union with him and the Father, of obedience to him and his commands, of love to him and each other, of self-sacrifice even to suffering and death for him, and of perfect conviction of the righteousness of their cause, the rectitude of their principles, and complete triumph at last. Thus the joy of the disciples and that of the Master proceeded from the same fountain. Although one is a small stream and the other a sweeping Amazon, yet they spring from the same sources, and flow on through parallel channels to the same ocean of infinite joy.

III THE PERFECTION OF THE DISCIPLES" JOY.

1. The perfection of their joy was not yet attained. This could not be expected. They were young disciples, ignorant and imperfect. Their training was as yet only partial, and there were intervening severe trials. Their Master was about to leave them by death; and their permanent Teacher and Sanctifier, the Holy Spirit, had not yet fully come. Between his departure and the coming of the Spirit there was sadness. They were doubtless greatly surprised at his speaking of his joy and theirs at such an hour; still they had the elements of spiritual joy to an extent they had not yet realized. The development of these was necessarily gradual, and as yet incomplete.

2. The perfection of their joy was attainable. "That my joy may be in you, and that," etc. This was to be attained:

(1) By continual realization of their union with him. This union was made. It was a glorious fact. They had only to continue it and realize it in a greater degree. And with increased realization of the union there would be an increase of joy the joy of being connected with a Divine life, the joy of infinite care and support. Christ rejoiced at his union with the disciples, and they ought to rejoice at theirs with him. If it was a source of joy to the Bridegroom to be united with a poor bride, certainly it ought to be a greater source of joy to the bride to be united with such an infinitely rich and kind Bridegroom.

(2) By continual participation of his joy. "That my joy may be in you;" not about or near, but in them as a perennial well of living water. His joy was full and perfect, and it was ever at their disposal; and they are invited to partake of it, as the branches partake of the life and sap of the vine. And his words and promise are as telegraphic wires to convey the messages of his love to the soul; as golden pipes to convey the wine of his life, joy, and fellowship to the heart. Joy was in him in inexhaustible fullness. And his disciples are to be filled with joy by continual participation of his fullness, and the more they take the more they will get.

(3) By careful imitation of his example. "That my joy may be in you, and that your joy," etc. In him they found an Example which was most perfect, helpful, and inspiring. In one sense his joy in relation to believers is a specimen, and a most efficient help to procure the same themselves. He helps them that they may help themselves, and make their own spiritual fortunes. He pointed out to his disciples the founts of happiness, and revealed to them by precept and example the path of duty as the only path of real joy. Let them tread it as he trod it. Let them abide in him as he abode in his Father. Let them obey as he obeyed, love as he loved, self-sacrifice as he self-sacrificed; then his joy would be in them, and theirs would be fulfilled in him and in themselves. His joy would be theirs, and still his own; his own, and still practically theirs. The joy of the Master is fulfilled in that of the disciple, and that of the disciple in the Master.

3. The perfection of joy, although partially attained now, is fully attained in the future. Christians of all ages have experienced this joy in a high degree; and even the sorrowful disciples, a short time after this, left the Sanhedrin with bleeding flesh, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ"s Name. They sang in prisons, and even in the most painful death. But this joy cannot reach perfection here, for its perfection wilt be the perfection of religion, and the crown of life, which cannot be fully attained but under heavenly and fixed conditions; when the union between Christ and the believing soul will be complete; when the tortuous stream shall at last reach the ocean, and the joyous disciple shall enter into the joy of his Lord.

4. The perfection of their joy now was Jesuschief concern. "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy," etc. lie was specially anxious, not merely that they should enjoy him, but that they should enjoy him in the highest sense, in the fullest measure, and in the most inspiring, cheering, and effective way. "That my joy may be in you." He does not bequeath unto them sorrow. He takes that upon himself, and gives them his joy. He makes an exchange gives his disciples his joy, and bears their grief. They have the advantage. All he said and did was that they may realize his happiness, and make it practically their own, and fulfill it in their own experience, even to perfection.

LESSONS.

1. There is no pure and lasting joy apart from Jesus. Every other joy is false, empty, and transient, unworthy of man as an immortal being, and will end in sorrow. In union with him alone there is real joy.

2. The religion of Jesus is a religion of pure joy. To charge it with being melancholy is utterly false. The religion of man is a melancholy one, but that of Jesus is ever joyous. The new birth is a circumstance of joy. The marriage of the soul to the merciful Savior is a source of ecstatic delight. Its sorrow is only accidental and for a season, its joy is essential and eternal. And there is joy even in its sorrow, songs in its sighs, and heaven in its tears. If it begins in a sigh, it ends in an eternal song.

3. Let us make our life joyous by a living union with the ever-joyous Savior. Let us abide in his love, appropriate his joy; then duty will be delightful, and life ever musical, and will naturally melt at last to that fullness of joy which is at his right hand, and the everlasting pleasures of his presence. B.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That my joy might remain in you - The same joy which I feel in loving the Father, and keeping his commandments.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

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.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. These things have I spoken … that my joy may remain in you. Strange words, that one about to be crucified should speak of his joy! His joy was union with and presence of the Father. He had “anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows.” He desired his disciples to have that joy, the constant consolation of the sense of the presence of Christ.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

11. ᾖ for μείνῃ (influenced by Joh 15:10).

11. The verse forms a conclusion to the allegory of the Vine: comp. Joh 5:17, Joh 14:25, Joh 16:25; Joh 16:33. For ἡ χ. ἡ ἐμή see on Joh 8:31: that the joy that is Mine may be in you means the joy which Christ experienced through consciousness of His fellowship with the Father, and which supported Him in His sufferings, may be in His disciples and support them in theirs. Here first, on the eve of His Passion, does Jesus speak of His joy. For ἡ χ. ὑμ. πλ. see on Joh 3:29. 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.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11.] λελάλ. again proleptic, hastening to the end of the discourse, and treating it as ended.

ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμή, not “joy concerning Me” (Euthym.), nor “joy derived from Me” (De Wette), nor “My joy over you” (Aug., Lampe, Lücke, former edd.), but My joy, properly speaking (see 2Co 2:3, ὅτι ἡ ἐμὴ χαρὰ πάντων ὑμῶν ἐστιν): “His own holy exultation, the joy of the Son in the consciousness of the love of God, of His Unity with the Father: see ver. 10.” (Lücke, 3rd edn.)

κ. ἡ χ. ὑμ. πλ.] That their joy might, by the indwelling of that His Joy, be uplifted and ennobled (πληρωθῆ) even to fulness,—to the extreme of their capability and satisfaction,—and might remain so.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

My joy. The joy that is mine; characteristic of me. See on ver. 9. Might remain [μεινη] . The best texts read h, may be.

Might be full [πληρωθη] . 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.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.