Musings... Dr. Black's BLOG
Comments on Translation Issues Affecting the ISV®
[Introductory Thoughts]
[The ISV Heritage: Where We Got our English Bible]
[The Poetry of the International Standard Version]
[Zechariah 12:10 — Look Upon Me Whom They Pierced]
[The Disciple Whom Jesus Kept on Loving?]
[John 3:16 — God Loved the World So Much!?!]
[John 18:4 — Whom Sweet Whom]
[John 21:15-17 — Sloppy Agape]
[Acts 2:38 — Baptism for Forgiveness?]
[1 Corinthians 13:4-7 — An Ode to Love]
[Ephesians 5:32 — Mustering Mystery out of Musterion]
[Philippians 1:27-30 — Good Citizens]
[1 Timothy 3:2 — "Teachable" or "Able to Teach"]
[Titus 1:12 — On Poets & Liars: When is Poetry Poetry?]
[Hebrews 1:1 — Alliteration in the Bible]
[Hebrews 6:1 — "Press on" or "Be Carried Along"?]
[Hebrews 12:1-2 — Too Much Lettuce?]
[James 1:17 — Good Giving?]
[James 2:14 — Can Faith Save?]
The Disciple Whom Jesus
Kept on Loving?
It is only the apostle John who calls himself
"the disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:20). Actually, John
uses a tense that emphasizes a process— something like "the disciple whom Jesus
kept on loving." The implication is almost, "he kept on loving me despite
myself."
And little wonder.
Do not think of John as some kind of soft,
sentimental, wishy-washy weakling. He was a "son of thunder" (Hebrew for a
person with a boisterous personality). He wanted to call down fire from heaven on the
Samaritans. He sought the place of prominence at the right (or, if need be, at the left)
hand of Jesus in the kingdom.
John the weakling? Hardly.
And now, writing many years later at the end
of his long life (John outlived all the other apostles), he has one chance to describe
himself to his audience. He could have done this in several different ways, each with its
own emphasis. I might introduce myself, depending on the occasion, as Becky’s
husband, Nathan’s dad, a surfer from Hawaii, a Greek teacher, a Baptist preacher, and
so forth.
And John? Did he write "apostle of Jesus
Christ," or "first bishop of the church at Ephesus," or "author of the
Book of Revelation"? He could have, but he wrote none of these. Thinking back to his
impetuous relationship with the Lord, to his unworthiness even to be called a follower of
Christ, he simply wrote, "the disciple whom Jesus kept on loving."
The description implies, not arrogance (as if
he meant "the disciple whom Jesus loved more than the others"), but a profound
sense of divine grace.
Is that not your identity and mine—we
who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior and Lord and who also know our own weaknesses and
shortcomings? We are but disciples whom Jesus keeps on loving, and loving, and loving.
Loved with everlasting love,
Led by grace that love to know,
Spirit, breathing from above,
Thou hast taught me it is so!
O this full and perfect peace!
O this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease,
I am his and he is mine.
G. W. Robinson (1838-77)
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