John 15

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.

John 15 Commentary

Chapter 15

Christ the true Vine. (1-8) His love to his disciples. (9-17) foretold. (18-25) The Comforter promised. (26,27)

Verses 1-8 Jesus Christ is the Vine, the true Vine. The union of the human and Divine natures, and the fulness of the Spirit that is in him, resemble the root of the vine made fruitful by the moisture from a rich soil. Believers are branches of this Vine. The root is unseen, and our life is hid with Christ; the root bears the tree, diffuses sap to it, and in Christ are all supports and supplies. The branches of the vine are many, yet, meeting in the root, are all but one vine; thus all true Christians, though in place and opinion distant from each other, meet in Christ. Believers, like the branches of the vine, are weak, and unable to stand but as they are borne up. The Father is the Husbandman. Never was any husbandman so wise, so watchful, about his vineyard, as God is about his church, which therefore must prosper. We must be fruitful. From a vine we look for grapes, and from a Christian we look for a Christian temper, disposition, and life. We must honour God, and do good; this is bearing fruit. The unfruitful are taken away. And even fruitful branches need pruning; for the best have notions, passions, and humours, that require to be taken away, which Christ has promised to forward the sanctification of believers, they will be thankful, for them. The word of Christ is spoken to all believers; and there is a cleansing virtue in that word, as it works grace, and works out corruption. And the more fruit we bring forth, the more we abound in what is good, the more our Lord is glorified. In order to fruitfulness, we must abide in Christ, must have union with him by faith. It is the great concern of all Christ's disciples, constantly to keep up dependence upon Christ, and communion with him. True Christians find by experience, that any interruption in the exercise of their faith, causes holy affections to decline, their corruptions to revive, and their comforts to droop. Those who abide not in Christ, though they may flourish for awhile in outward profession, yet come to nothing. The fire is the fittest place for withered branches; they are good for nothing else. Let us seek to live more simply on the fulness of Christ, and to grow more fruitful in every good word and work, so may our joy in Him and in his salvation be full.

Verses 9-17 Those whom God loves as a Father, may despise the hatred of all the world. As the Father loved Christ, who was most worthy, so he loved his disciples, who were unworthy. All that love the Saviour should continue in their love to him, and take all occasions to show it. The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment, but the joy of those who abide in Christ's love is a continual feast. They are to show their love to him by keeping his commandments. If the same power that first shed abroad the love of Christ's in our hearts, did not keep us in that love, we should not long abide in it. Christ's love to us should direct us to love each other. He speaks as about to give many things in charge, yet names this only; it includes many duties.

Verses 18-25 How little do many persons think, that in opposing the doctrine of Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King, they prove themselves ignorant of the one living and true God, whom they profess to worship! The name into which Christ's disciples were baptized, is that which they will live and die by. It is a comfort to the greatest sufferers, if they suffer for Christ's name's sake. The world's ignorance is the true cause of its hatred to the disciples of Jesus. The clearer and fuller the discoveries of the grace and truth of Christ, the greater is our sin if we do not love him and believe in him.

26,27. The blessed Spirit will maintain the cause of Christ in the world, notwithstanding the opposition it meets with. Believers taught and encouraged by his influences, would bear testimony to Christ and his salvation.

Footnotes

• [a]. Aiteo: see Note a, ch. 14.16.
• [b]. 'In this' refers to what follows: no one, I think, can be familiar with John's writings and doubt it. Thus the Father is glorified and they become disciples of his.
• [c]. Perhaps more exactly, 'In this will my Father have been glorified that ye have borne much fruit, and ye will have become,' &c.
• [d]. Para with gen.: see Note a, ch. 6.45.
• [e]. Or 'ye know;' objective knowledge.
• [f]. Doulos: see Note, Matt. 10.24.
• [g]. 'Gratuitously,' 'freely,' 'for nothing,' Ps. 35.19 and 69.4.
• [h]. Para with gen.: see Note d, ch. 1.14.