Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
The tense of the verb “loves” is present active subjunctive and could be translated “If anyone keeps on loving me”. It is a continuous action verb and is the key to the spiritual manifestation of Jesus to the believer.
The answer of Jesus to the question of Judas is love. This may not seem on the surface to be an answer to Judas’ question, but in fact it is in two ways. First, Jesus is telling Judas the requirements for Him to show Himself to someone. We must love him, and that love for Him will reveal itself through our obedience.
Second, Jesus will indeed manifest Himself to the world, in a manner of speaking, but it will be through the believer. Morgan paraphrases this verse as, “You ask me, Jude, why I have abandoned the world? I have not abandoned the world. My Father and I are coming to dwell in you, and in all who shall, like you, love Me.”
McGarvey observes that Jesus responded this way because “It was better that Judas should busy his heart and will about the means of blessing rather than his head about the mysterious and incomprehensible manner of it.” (TFG)
“home” (NIV) = “abode” (KJV) = mone = a staying, abiding, dwelling, abode. This word only occurs twice in the NT, here and v (14:2) where it is translated as “rooms” (NIV) and “mansions” (KJV). (The translation “mansions” is a transliteration of the Latin “mansiones” which means “lodging places” and is found in the Vulgate Bible.) Jesus is speaking of a permanent dwelling, and not a temporary one. This is similar to the thought expressed in (1 John 4:12, 16). It is true that God is everywhere present and that Jesus will be with all believers forever, but this is speaking of a higher order of God’s Presence. This is the state of the believer where he actually experiences the presence of God within himself.
John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
1 John 4:12 No-one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
Love is the necessary reason for our obedience to Christ. Any other motive would be selfish and thus sin. Also, His commands are so against our nature that we could not keep them if we were not loving Him so much that we deeply desired to please Him by obeying Him. For example, our natures rebel at turning the other cheek, or loving our enemies, or thinking of others more highly than we think of ourselves. As Maclaren notes, reluctant obedience is not obedience and self-centered obedience is not obedience. True obedience — the kind of obedience that God calls obedience — is only motivated by love for Jesus. The only way we can please God and become righteous is by loving Christ, and obedience will naturally follow. It is never the other way around.
Maclaren believes that “Every act of obedience to any moral truth is rewarded by additional insight.” As we walk in truth we see the truth more clearly, or, as he says, “As we climb the hill we get a wider view.” This is similar to the principle that to everyone who has, more is given (Luke 19:26).
Luke 19:26 “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.
Interestingly, our loving obedience to Jesus causes changes in two directions. It causes God to love us even more than He already does and for Him and Jesus to come and indwell us personally. At the same time, we receive greater insight into Him and His word and we are changed inwardly by the whole process. Too many Christians find it easier to place faith in the things Jesus did in the past and not in the things He is doing right now in them. What is He doing in you?