Friends of Christ
by Faith

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.  John 15:15

Christ stresses the word friend and highlights the difference between a servant and a friend in this passage. Jesus is saying, “I don’t call you servants, as you were under the law before I came. For servants don’t know what their master is thinking or wants to do. Servants don’t share ownership in a master’s properties but are given an hourly wage for their service. You aren’t servants, as the false believers are. They serve me for personal gain, not from a heart of love. But you are my friends, for I have given to you everything that I have received from my Father."

Take note of whom Jesus calls his friends and why he calls them his friends. We can tell who his friends are by whether or not they receive good things from him. This is illustrated by the parable in Luke 10:30–37. A wounded man had fallen among murderers, and the Samaritan was the one who showed him mercy. The Samaritan treated the wounded man like a friend. We usually reverse it and call people “friends” who do good to us.

However, Christ shows us how we become God’s friends—it’s by receiving good things from Christ. We can’t give him anything, and we can’t earn the right to be called his friends. As Jesus says in the next verse, “You did not choose me” (John 15:16). Jesus initiated friendship with us by receiving us. He’s the one who made friends out of his enemies. So we ought to thank God and admit that it’s only because of his grace and goodness we are his friends.

Source: Quoted in Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional, p. 312.  James C. Galvin. Zondervan (2009).