How We Actually Love Like Jesus

“Hold on! How can I love like Jesus?”

This was the question that many (perhaps you) asked at the end of the previous post: “Loving the One Who Hurt You.” 

In John 15:9, the Lord Jesus says to his disciples:

As the Father has loved me,

so have I loved you.

Then three verses later, he commands—yes, commands:

Love each other

as I have loved you.

Perhaps our question was not voiced by the disciples in the upper room, but it probably rose in their hearts—if not then, soon after. So, in the larger context of John 13-17, let’s make a quick visit to John 15 to hear how the Lord speaks to our question:

How can I love like Jesus?

Divine Dynamic Expressed

From the beginning of John’s Gospel, the careful reader is aware that Jesus is God in flesh (John 1:1-18). The Lord Jesus gives us a glimpse into the divine dynamic between the Father and the Son when he responds to Philip in the presence of the other disciples (14:10-11):

Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; …

The words that Jesus spoke and the works he did were initiated and carried out by the Father in and through the Lord Jesus. This divine dynamic includes the ultimate expression of God’s agapē-love.

Twice in this short passage, Jesus declares,

“I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me.”

What does that mean? How can this be?

Early Christian “fathers” and scholars attempted to explain this intimate, interpersonal, interpenetrating relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as early as Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. 329-389/90 A.D.) with the concept of perichōrēsis (peri-kor-ay-sis).

Although we do not want to force the meaning of this word too far, perichōrēsis combines peri, meaning around (i.e., perimeter, periscope), and chōrēsis, which is at the root of our word “choreography”—dancing. That is why some liken this relationship to the divine dance.

Despite being God in flesh, Jesus Christ relied on this intimate, interpersonal, and interpenetrating relationship with the Father in how he loved.

Divine Dynamic Extended

As incomprehensible as it may seem, Jesus declared that his followers would engage with this divine dynamic as well. Here is how he puts it when referring to the time following his physical resurrection (14:19-20):

“… because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”

Note the similarity with the earlier language of the divine dynamic (14:10-11). In the same kind of way that the Lord Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in Him, we are in Christ, and He is in us.

One caution is that we do not become God. We engage with God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in a way that enables us to love like Jesus.

Again, what does this mean, and how can this be?

Divine Dynamic Engaged

In the same context as this amazing statement (“you in Me, and I in you”), our Lord gives four promises of a Paraklētos (para-klay-toss). Various English translations render this word as “Helper” (ESV, NASB, NKJ), “Advocate” (NET, NLT, NRS), or “Counselor” (NIV). These attempts do not adequately convey the concept of Paraklētos, a word that literally means “one called to one’s side” for help, advocacy, counsel, and much more.

The first reference to the Paraklētos is (14:16-17):

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another [Paraklētos], that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” 

Here are two basic observations of this text:

1. The Paraklētos is the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, who is coequal with the Father and the Son.
2. At the time Jesus addressed the disciples, the Spirit was “with” the disciples. After Pentecost (Acts 2), the Holy Spirit is “in” all followers of Jesus intimately and powerfully.

We have explored something of the Person and activities of the Holy Spirit in the series, “The Holy Spirit and You.”

At this point, it is enough to realize that the Holy Spirit—a Paraklētos just like Jesus Christ—indwells and empowers every follower of Jesus to the extent they submit to Him.

Divine Dynamic Explained

In John 15, Jesus provides us with an illustration or metaphor of the divine dynamic between himself as the Vine and his followers as branches. Here is what he says (15:1-5):

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

Again, here are five important observations:

• Jesus Christ is the Vine; we (as followers of Jesus) are the branches.
• A branch abides in the Vine by being connected and drawing upon the life of the Vine. The Vine provides its life to the branches. Thus, “you in Me, and I in you” (14:19-20), as he said earlier.
• The fruit is the reproduction of the life of the Vine—therefore, the life of Christ—in and through the branches.
• Apart from Jesus, “you can do nothing.”
• The larger context shows that the Holy Spirit conveys the life of Jesus Christ to us and through us.

Paul confirms this when he writes: “the fruit of the Spirit is love …” (Galatians 5:22-23; see also Romans 5:5; Philippians 2:1; Colossians 1:8; 2 Timothy 1:7).

Living in the divine dynamic

So, how can you and I love like Jesus?

The answer is not found in being “nice” or in attempting to perform in our own strength, two non-starters discussed in “Love Like Jesus.” 

The answer is found in abiding in the Vine (Jesus Christ) and relying upon the Spirit to not only love like Jesus but also live like Jesus.

This post is similar to the concluding post of the series “How to Love Like Jesus,” with minor revisions. If you want to explore this subject more, I encourage you to engage in the series “How to Love Like Jesus.”

I invite you to send me your comments and questions via this link.

FORWARD TO the next post in this series

BACK TO Loving the One Who Hurt You

TO START at the beginning of this series

Image credit: Gothic triskele window element featured in the Wikipedia article “Perichoresis” linked in this post. I understand that the image is in the Public Domain. If not, please inform me of how to properly attribute this image.