John 15:10

Jesus's connection of commandment-keeping to abiding in love — 'if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his Father's love' — grounds the disciples' obedience in the prior pattern of the Son's own obedience to the Father as the model for the relationship. The analogy (Son-Father :: disciples-Son) presents the trinitarian relationship as the template for the believing community's ethical life. The verse does not make love conditional on obedience in the sense of earning it, but rather presents obedience as the mode of dwelling within love that has already been offered — the channel through which the relationship is maintained rather than initiated. The passage (15:9-17) forms the theological center of the Farewell Discourse's command to love one another, embedding the ethical imperative in the prior love of God for the Son and the Son for the disciples.