Jesus said unto them, if God were your Father
By adoption; and this was discovered by the grace of
regeneration; or in other words, if they had been born of God,
ye would love me;
for in regeneration love to Christ is always implanted: it is a
fruit of the Spirit, which always comes along with the
superabounding grace of God in conversion; whoever are begotten
again, according to abundant mercy, love an unseen Jesus; and
where there is no love to Christ, there can be no regeneration:
such persons are not born again; nor is God their Father, at
least manifestatively:
for I proceeded forth; and came from God;
the former of these phrases is observed by many learned men to be
used by the Septuagint, of a proper natural birth, as in (
Genesis
15:4 ) ( 35:11 ) ;
and here designs the eternal generation of Christ, as the Son of
God, being the only begotten of the Father, and the Son of the
Father in truth and love; and the other is to be understood of
his mission from him, as Mediator:
neither came I of myself;
or did not take the office to himself, without being called unto
it, and invested with it, by his Father:
but he sent me;
not by force, or against the will of Christ, or by change of
place, but by assumption of nature; he sent him at the time
agreed upon, in human nature, to obtain eternal redemption for
his people: and upon both these accounts Christ is to be loved by
all regenerate persons, or who have God for their Father; both on
account of his being the Son of God, of the same nature and
essence with him, see ( 1 John 5:1 ) ; and on
account of his mission into this world, as Mediator, since he was
sent, and came to be the Saviour of lost sinners.