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John 15

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The Vine and the Branches 1–8

1
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. ​
2
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. ​
3
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. ​
4
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. ​
5
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. ​
6
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. ​
7
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. ​
8
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. ​

Abide in My Love 9–17

9
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. ​
10
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. ​
11
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. ​
12
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. ​
13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. ​
14
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. ​
16
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. ​
17
These things I command you, that ye love one another.

The World's Hatred and Persecution 18–25

18
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. ​
19
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. ​
20
Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. ​
21
But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
22
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. ​
23
He that hateth me hateth my Father also. ​
24
If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25
But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. ​

The Spirit Testifies and Empowers Witness 26–27

26
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: ​
27
And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for John 15

Verse 1

the true vine — Alethinos, genuine, the real thing of which earlier vines were the figure: Israel was 'a vine out of Egypt' (Ps 80:8), planted 'a noble vine' that turned 'degenerate' (Jer 2:21). Christ is the vine; the Father is georgos, the land-worker who tends it.

Verse 2

he purgeth it — Kathairo, to cleanse, specially to prune; it shares its root with katharos, 'clean' in v.3. 'Taketh away' is airo, to lift up or take away. Fruitless branches meet the fate of the tree 'hewn down' (Matt 3:10); fruitful ones are pruned for 'more fruit'.

Verse 3

clean through the word — Katharos, the result of the pruning in v.2, already true of the disciples: the spoken word has cleansed them. Compare 'Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth' (John 17:17) and 'washing of water by the word' (Eph 5:26); at the supper he had said, 'ye are clean, but not all' (John 13:10).

Verse 4

Abide in me — Meno, to stay, remain: the key verb of the passage, used here of branch and vine. 'And I in you' makes the union mutual. Paul states it of himself: 'I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me' (Gal 2:20). Fruit is not produced by the branch 'of itself'.

Verse 5

without me ye can do nothing — Choris, apart from, separately. 'Branches' is klema, a shoot. The verse is balanced by Paul's 'I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me' (Phil 4:13). The fruit is described elsewhere: 'the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace' (Gal 5:22).

Verse 6

cast forth as a branch — The fruitless branch is thrown out, dries, is gathered and burned, the end of the tree that 'bringeth not forth good fruit' and is 'cast into the fire' (Matt 7:19). Ballo, to cast, is used twice in the verse. Heb 6:8 gives the same picture of the earth that bears thorns: 'whose end is to be burned'.

Verse 7

my words abide in you — Rhema, an utterance, a spoken word. The words abide as the person does (meno again). The promise 'ask what ye will' is bounded by this: 'if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us' (1 John 5:14).

Verse 8

Herein is my Father glorified — Doxazo, to glorify. Fruit is what honours the Father, as in 'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven' (Matt 5:16). Bearing 'much fruit' is also the proof by which 'ye be my disciples'.

Verse 9

continue ye in my love — 'Continue' is meno, the 'abide' of vv.4–7, now applied to his love (agape). The measure is 'As the Father hath loved me'; the prayer of John 17:23 uses the same comparison: 'hast loved them, as thou hast loved me'.

Verse 10

keep my commandments — Tereo, to guard, keep watch over. Obedience is the way of abiding in love, and Christ's own is the pattern: 'I do always those things that please him' (John 8:29). Compare 'If ye love me, keep my commandments' (John 14:15).

Verse 11

my joy might remain in you — Chara, calm delight. 'Remain' is again meno: his joy abides in them as they abide in him. The same purpose is stated in 'that your joy may be full' (1 John 1:4), and in his prayer, 'that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves' (John 17:13).

Verse 12

This is my commandment — The commandment first given at the supper: 'A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you' (John 13:34). The standard is 'as I have loved you', which the next verse defines by his death. It is repeated in v.17.

Verse 13

lay down his life — Literally to place his psyche, his life. The friends are philoi. Christ speaks of his own coming death: 'the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep' (John 10:11). Paul adds that it was for sinners: 'while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us' (Rom 5:8).

Verse 15

I have called you friends — The doulos, servant or slave, 'knoweth not what his lord doeth'; the philos, friend, is told. Christ has made known 'all things that I have heard of my Father'. Abraham was 'called the Friend of God' (James 2:23); 'The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him' (Ps 25:14).

Verse 16

I have chosen you — Eklegomai, to choose out, the verb of v.19, 'chosen you out of the world'; compare 'of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles' (Luke 6:13). 'Ordained' is tithemi, to set or appoint. The fruit is to 'remain' (meno), as the branch abides.

Verse 18

If the world hate you — Kosmos, the world as humanity set against Christ; miseo is to detest, even to persecute. The disciples 'know' it hated him first. John repeats the warning: 'Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you' (1 John 3:13); see also John 7:7.

Verse 19

chosen you out of the world — The preposition ek, 'of' or 'out of', occurs three times in the verse: not 'of the world', chosen 'out of the world'. The cause of the hatred is this separation. In his prayer: 'They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world' (John 17:16).

Verse 20

The servant is not greater than his lord — A saying already given at the supper (John 13:16; compare Matt 10:24). 'Persecuted' is dioko, to pursue. The rule runs both ways: 'if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also'. Paul states it generally: 'all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution' (2 Tim 3:12).

Verse 22

no cloke for their sin — Prophasis, a pretext, an outward showing put forward to hide the real cause. Having heard him, they cannot plead ignorance. The same logic is in John 9:41: 'If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.'

Verse 23

hateth my Father also — The Son and the Father are so one that hatred of the one reaches the other. Christ said to Philip, 'he that hath seen me hath seen the Father' (John 14:9), and John writes, 'Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father' (1 John 2:23).

Verse 25

They hated me without a cause — 'Their law' here means the Scriptures of Israel at large; the words are found in the Psalms: 'They that hate me without a cause' (Ps 69:4; also Ps 35:19; 109:3). 'Without a cause' is dorean, gratuitously, the word rendered 'freely' in Rev 21:6.

Verse 26

the Comforter — Parakletos, one called alongside to help, an advocate; he is 'another Comforter' (John 14:16) and 'the Spirit of truth' (John 14:17). Christ says he himself will send him 'from the Father'; 'proceedeth' is ekporeuomai, to go forth. His task is to 'testify of me'.

Verse 27

from the beginning — Arche. The apostles' witness rests on having been with him throughout his ministry: 'we are witnesses of all things which he did' (Acts 10:39); 'ye are witnesses of these things' (Luke 24:48). It stands beside the Spirit's testimony of v.26.