Sunday, May 25, 2014

"And he that loveth me will be loved by my Father."

"And he that loveth me will be loved by my Father." Christ speaks as if men loved God before he loved them; which is absurd, for,
"when we were enemies, he reconciled us to him," (Romans 5:10;) - and the words of John are well known - "Not that we first loved him, but he first loved us," (1 John 4:10.) 
But there is no debate here about cause or effect; and therefore there is no ground for the inference, that the love with which we love Christ comes in sequence before the love which God has toward us; for Christ meant only, that all who love him will be happy, because they will also be loved by him and by the Father; not that God then begins to love them, but because they have a testimony of his love to them, as a Father, engraven on their hearts.

John Calvin. Commentary on John 14: 21

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