27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.
Jesus now gave the reason that He would not intercede for the apostles from the context of verse 26. The Father Himself loved them; He did not need to be persuaded to love them.
27 for the Father Himself loves you,
Jesus here built on His earlier statement in John 15:9-16. The Father’s love for them rested on their faith in Jesus. He did not need prompting from the Son to love the apostles; He loved them without any intercession.
because you have loved Me,
The Father’s love for the apostles rested on their relationship to Jesus. The Father did not need to be persuaded to love them because they loved Jesus. “Loved” here means the apostles loved Jesus at a point in the past and it still stands that they love Him (perfect tense). They loved the Lord enough to continue to live for Him (2 Co 5:15).
The love of the apostles here does not mean that their love merited the Father’s love. The Father’s love was prior to their love; His love was eternal for them. The issue here is not exchanged love between the Father and the apostles. The disciples’ love was an outworking of the Father’s previous love for them.
and have believed that I came forth from [from along side] God.
God’s openness to prayer comes from His prior love toward believers in sending Jesus to earth (Jn 3:16).
“Have believed” is in a Greek tense that means that the apostles loved Jesus in the past with the result that they continue to love Him (perfect tense).
PRINCIPLE:
The ground of our acceptance by the Father rests on the believer’s relationship to Jesus.
APPLICATION:
Our prayer is based on God’s prior love for us. The Father extends His love to believers because of their faith in and love for Jesus. There is unity between the Father and Son in this. There is nothing here of the Father or Son being more merciful than the other.
This definitely does not mean that our love merits the Father’s love. We owe our love to Christ because of a previous divine love for us; that love comes from the Father. Augustine said, “He would not have wrought in us something He could love, were it not that He loved ourselves before he wrought it.” The believer’s capacity for love comes from God. Genuine faith has regard for divine origin of things. Jesus came from eternal glory.
After the resurrection of Jesus, there would be a new state of affairs for believers. They could pray in Jesus’ name. To pray in His name is not a way of enlisting His support but is an appeal to the Father based on the person and work of Christ. The Christian does not need to go through religious gyrations to get God’s attention.
Believers also have direct, personal access to the Father by the name of Jesus.
Believers in the church age have personal access to the Father. Their new relationship with the Father does not negate perpetual intercession on their behalf by Jesus while He is in glory (Ro 8:34; He 7:25; 1 Jn 2:1-2).
