Servants Or Friends? (John 15:15)

As Christians, are we servants of Jesus Christ, or are we his friends? But did not Jesus say to his disciples, “I no longer call you servants, but friends”? How then can we still say that Christians are his servants?

It is important that we do not quote Jesus’ words inaccurately or out of context, so as to make him teach whatever we want. Let us look at what Jesus actually said in its entirety:

John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, because the servant has not known what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because all things that I heard alongside my Father, I made known to you.

Whenever the Bible uses a term to describe something, we must consider the sense in which that term is describing that thing. For example, earlier on in the same chapter (John 15), Jesus describes himself as the vine and his disciples as the branches (v. 5). Now, does that mean that Jesus was literally a vine and his disciples were literally branches? Of course not. As he explains in verse 4, he is the vine and they are the branches in the sense that his disciples receive from him their ability to bear fruit if they remain in union with him.

So, in what sense does Jesus no longer consider his disciples servants? Jesus himself explains: “because the servants has not known what his master is doing.” In other words, Jesus no longer considers his disciples servants in the sense that unlike servants, they now know what Jesus is doing, which, in that sense makes them friends of Jesus rather than his servants.

This, however, does not preclude the possibility that the disciples can be servants of Jesus in other senses. Thus, a Christian is both a servant and friend of Jesus Christ; there is no contradiction. This is why the writers of the New Testament Scriptures—several of whom were present when he said “no longer do I call you servants but friends”—had no problems considering themselves servants of God and of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1; Galatians 1:10; Titus 1:1; James 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1; Jude 1:1), as well as their fellow Christians (Romans 6:22; 1 Corinthians 7:22; Ephesians 6:6; Colossians 4:12; 2 Timothy 2:24; 1 Peter 2:16; Revelation 1:1).

By the way, in the previous verse, Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do the things which I command you” (John 15:14). According to Jesus himself, only those who obey him are truly his friends. We love to sing, “I am a friend of God; he calls me friend!” but are our actions consistent with Jesus’ definition of being his friends?