1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 [As to] every branch in me not bearing fruit, he takes it away; and [as to] every one bearing fruit, he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Ye are already clean by reason of the word which I have spoken to you.
4 Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abide in the vine, thus neither [can] ye unless ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye [are] the branches. He that abides in me and I in him, *he* bears much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing.
6 Unless any one abide in me he is cast out as the branch, and is dried up; and they 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 come to pass to you.
8 In this is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, and ye shall become disciples of mine.
9 As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you: abide in my love.
10 If ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
11 I have spoken these things to you that my joy may be in you, and your joy be full.
12 This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 No one has greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends if ye practise whatever I command you.
15 I call you no longer bondmen, for the bondman does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things which I have heard of my Father I have made known to you.
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and have set you that ye should go and [that] ye should bear fruit, and [that] your fruit should abide, that whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he may give you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18 If the world hate you, know that it has hated me before you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on account of this the world hates you.
20 Remember the word which I said unto you, The bondman is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my word, they will keep also yours.
21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they have not known him that sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 He that hates me hates also my Father.
24 If I had not done among them the works which no other one has done, they had not had sin; but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 But that the word written in their law might be fulfilled, They hated me without a cause.
26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes forth from with the Father, *he* shall bear witness concerning me;
27 and ye too bear witness, because ye are with me from [the] beginning.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on John 15
Commentary on John 15 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 15
Joh 15:1-27. Discourse at the Supper Table Continued.
1-8. The spiritual oneness of Christ and His people, and His relation to them as the Source of all their spiritual life and fruitfulness, are here beautifully set forth by a figure familiar to Jewish ears (Isa 5:1, &c.).
I am the true vine—of whom the vine of nature is but a shadow.
my Father is the husbandman—the great Proprietor of the vineyard, the Lord of the spiritual kingdom. (It is surely unnecessary to point out the claim to supreme divinity involved in this).
2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit … every branch that beareth fruit—As in a fruit tree, some branches may be fruitful, others quite barren, according as there is a vital connection between the branch and the stock, or no vital connection; so the disciples of Christ may be spiritually fruitful or the reverse, according as they are vitally and spiritually connected with Christ, or but externally and mechanically attached to Him. The fruitless He "taketh away" (see on Joh 15:6); the fruitful He "purgeth" (cleanseth, pruneth)—stripping it, as the husbandman does, of what is rank (Mr 4:19), "that it may bring forth more fruit"; a process often painful, but no less needful and beneficial than in the natural husbandry.
3. Now—rather, "Already."
ye are clean through—by reason of.
the word I have spoken to you—already in a purified, fruitful condition, in consequence of the long action upon them of that searching "word" which was "as a refiner's fire" (Mal 3:2, 3).
4. Abide in me, and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, &c.—As all spiritual fruitfulness had been ascribed to the mutual inhabitation, and living, active interpenetration (so to speak) of Christ and His disciples, so here the keeping up of this vital connection is made essential to continued fruitfulness.
5. without me—apart, or vitally disconnected from Me.
ye can do nothing—spiritually, acceptably.
6. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch … withered … cast into the fire … burned—The one proper use of the vine is to bear fruit; failing this, it is good for one other thing—fuel. (See Eze 15:1-5). How awfully striking the figure, in this view of it!
7. If ye abide in me, and my words … in you—Mark the change from the inhabitation of Himself to that of His words, paving the way for the subsequent exhortations (Joh 15:9, 10).
ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you—because this indwelling of His words in them would secure the harmony of their askings with the divine will.
8. glorified that ye bear much fruit—not only from His delight in it for its own sake, but as from "the juices of the Living Vine."
so shall ye be my disciples—evidence your discipleship.
9-11. continue ye in my love—not, "Continue to love Me," but, "Continue in the possession and enjoyment of My love to you"; as is evident from the next words.
10. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love—the obedient spirit of true discipleship cherishing and attracting the continuance and increase of Christ's love; and this, He adds, was the secret even of His own abiding in His Father's love!
12-16. That ye love one another, &c.—(See on Joh 13:34, 35).
13. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends—The emphasis lies not on "friends," but on "laying down his life" for them; that is, "One can show no greater regard for those dear to him than to give his life for them, and this is the love ye shall find in Me."
14. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you—hold yourselves in absolute subjection to Me.
15. Henceforth I call you not servants—that is, in the sense explained in the next words; for servants He still calls them (Joh 15:20), and they delight to call themselves so, in the sense of being "under law to Christ" (1Co 9:20).
the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth—knows nothing of his master's plans and reasons, but simply receives and executes his orders.
but … friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you—admitted you to free, unrestrained fellowship, keeping back nothing from you which I have received to communicate. (Compare Ge 18:17; Ps 25:14; Isa 50:4).
16. Ye have not chosen me, but I … you—a wholesale memento after the lofty things He had just said about their mutual indwelling, and the unreservedness of the friendship they had been admitted to.
ordained—appointed.
you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit—that is, give yourselves to it.
and that your fruit should remain—showing itself to be an imperishable and ever growing principle. (Compare Pr 4:18; 2Jo 8).
that whatsoever ye shall ask, &c.—(See on Joh 15:7).
17-21. The substance of these important verses has occurred more than once before. (See on Mt 10:34-36; Lu 12:49-53, &c.).
22-25. (See on Joh 9:39-41).
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin—comparatively none; all other sins being light compared with the rejection of the Son of God.
now they have no cloak for their sin—rather, "pretext."
24. If I had not done … the works which none other … did—(See on Joh 12:37).
25. that the word might be fulfilled … They hated me without a cause—quoted from the Messianic Ps 69:4, applied also in the same sense in Joh 2:17; Ac 1:20; Ro 11:9, 10; 15:3.
26, 27. (See on Joh 14:15; Joh 14:17).
27. ye also shall bear witness—rather, "are witnesses"; with reference indeed to their future witness-bearing, but putting the emphasis upon their present ample opportunities for acquiring their qualifications for that great office, inasmuch as they had been "with Him from the beginning." (See on Lu 1:2).