The Vine and the Branches
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes [The Greek for he prunes also means he cleans.] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
The World Hates the Disciples
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’[John 13:16 ] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’[Psalms 35:19; 69:4 ]
The Work of the Holy Spirit
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
15:1–16:4 Discourse on the union of Jesus with his
disciples. His words become a monologue and go beyond the immediate crisis of
the departure of Jesus.
15:1–17 Like Jn 10:1–5, this passage resembles a parable.
Israel is spoken of as a vineyard at Is 5:1–7; Mt 21:33–46 and as a vine at Ps
80:9–17; Jer 2:21; Ez 15:2; 17:5–10; 19:10; Hos 10:1. The identification of the
vine as the Son of Man in Ps 80:15 and Wisdom’s description of herself as a
vine in Sir 24:17 are further background for portrayal of Jesus by this figure.
There may be secondary eucharistic symbolism here; cf. Mk 14:25, “the fruit of
the vine.”
15:2 Takes away…prunes: in Greek there is a play on two
related verbs.
15:6 Branches were cut off and dried on the wall of the
vineyard for later use as fuel.
15:13 For one’s friends: or: “those whom one loves.” In Jn
15:9–13a, the words for love are related to the Greek agapaō. In Jn 15:13b–15,
the words for love are related to the Greek phileō. For John, the two roots
seem synonymous and mean “to love”; cf. also Jn 21:15–17. The word philos is
used here.
15:15 Slaves…friends: in the Old Testament, Moses (Dt 34:5),
Joshua (Jos 24:29), and David (Ps 89:21) were called “servants” or “slaves of
Yahweh”; only Abraham (Is 41:8; 2 Chr 20:7; cf. Jas 2:23) was called a “friend
of God.”
15:18–16:4 The hostile reaction of the world. There are
synoptic parallels, predicting persecution, especially at Mt 10:17–25; 24:9–10.
15:20 The word I spoke to you: a reference to Jn 13:16.
15:21 On account of my name: the idea of persecution for
Jesus’ name is frequent in the New Testament (Mt 10:22; 24:9; Acts 9:14). For
John, association with Jesus’ name implies union with Jesus.
15:22, 24 Jesus’ words (spoken) and deeds (works) are the
great motives of credibility. They have seen and hated: probably means that
they have seen his works and still have hated; but the Greek can be read: “have
seen both me and my Father and still have hated both me and my Father.”
Works…that no one else ever did: so Yahweh in Dt 4:32–33.
15:25 In their law: law is here used as a larger concept
than the Pentateuch, for the reference is to Ps 35:19 or Ps 69:5. See notes on
Jn 10:34; 12:34. Their law reflects the argument of the church with the
synagogue.
15:26 Whom I will send: in Jn 14:16, 26, the Paraclete is to
be sent by the Father, at the request of Jesus. Here the Spirit comes from both
Jesus and the Father in mission; there is no reference here to the eternal
procession of the Spirit.
The Gospel of John
Online Bible Study in English
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