15. — [Henceforth 1 call you not servants, c&c] Having used tlie word " friends," our Lord tells His disciples that He has used that word purposely to cheer and encourage them. " Observe that I call you friends. I do so intentionally. I no longer call you servants ; because the servant from his position knows not all his master's mind, and is not in his confidence. But to you I have revealed all the truths which my Father sent me to teach the world, and have kept nothing back. I may therefore justly call you friends."
When our Lord speaks of " having made known all things " to the disciples, we must reasonably suppose that He means all things needful to their spiritual good, and all things that they were able to bear.
The high privilege of a believer is strikingly taught here. He is a friend of Christ, as well as a child of God. No one need ever say I have no " friend " to turn to, so long as Christ is in heaven. Oiice only before this place does Christ call the disci- ples " friends." (Luke xii. 4.)
It is noteworthy that Abraham is the only person in the Old Testament who is called " the friend of God " (Isa. xli. 8,) and of him the Lord says, " Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do ? " (Gen. xviii. 17.)
16. — [ Ye have not chosen Me, etc., etc.] The connecting link be- tween this verse and the passage preceding it is not very clear.
Hengstenberg thinks that it refers to the commandment just laid down, to love one another. " I may fairly lay down laws and rules for your conduct, because I first chose and called you to. be members of my church."
I much prefer thinking that our Lord's object is to exalt the privilege of discipleship in the eyes of the eleven. " Re- member, when I call you friends, that I called you into the number of my people, and chose you before you chose Me. See then how great and free and deep is my love to you."
When our Lord speaks of " choosing " in this verse, I think that He means two things : viz., His choice of the eleven to be His apostles, and their eternal election to salvation. There seems to be a peculiar f alness in the phrase. The choice of the believer to eternal life is not the whole idea that our Lord means to convey. True as that glorious doctrine is, it is not the whole doctrine of this verse. The " choosing " includes a choosing for an office, like John vi. 70, and seems to have a special reference to the choice of the eleven faithful apostles to be the first children of Christ's Church.
Calvin certainly says, " the subject now in hand is not the or- dinary election of believers, by which tliey are adopted to be God's children ; but that special election by which Christ sets apart His disciples to the office of preaching the gospel." (See