John 15 - Life Application Bible Commentary (NT)

JESUS TEACHES ABOUT THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES / 15:1-17 / 215

Jesus knew that his physical presence with his precious disciples would soon end. He also knew that these men would need a clear understanding of their position with God, as well as what was expected of them. So he consciously filled their minds with pictures and ideas to help them survive the days to come. But these same lessons also provide vital resources for preparing future generations of disciples to grow in their faith.

Jesus regularly used objects and customs from daily life to illustrate profound spiritual lessons. Many of these are no longer available or common in our times. The introduction of machinery has made farming, for instance, remarkably different from what it was in Jesus’ time. But the growing and care of grapevines has changed little over the centuries. The following facts about grapes help us understand Jesus’ use of that particular plant to illustrate the relationship he expected between himself and his disciples:

• Grapes are the most widely grown fruit in the world.
• Archaeological evidence from Egyptian tombs shows that grapes were being cultivated 2,500 years before Christ.
• Even today, grapes are central to Israel’s agriculture and economy.
• The grapevine is part of Israel’s national emblem.
• Grapes are consumed in three popular forms: fresh, raisins, wine.
• Grapes grow in a multitude of colors, sizes, and flavors.
• The quality of a vine is only as good as the rooted stock. Individual branches are grafted into a healthy, productive stock.
• Vines are adaptable, but require attentive care: water, fertilizer, pruning.
• New plants are pruned for three to five years to “train” them before they are allowed to produce a crop.
• Good roots produce for as many as a hundred years.
• For their size, vines are very productive, yielding as much as eighty pounds of grapes in a single season.
• Disease and lack of productivity can spread from dead branches that have not been removed.
• Well-tended grapevines are beautiful and aesthetic plants.

15:1-2 “I am the true vine.”NKJV The grapevine is a prolific plant; a single vine bears many grapes. In the Old Testament, grapes symbolized Israel’s fruitfulness in doing God’s work on earth. The prophets had written of Israel as God’s vine, carefully planted and cared for. But the vine was a disappointment because it yielded only rotten fruit; that is, they refused to give him love and obedience. This is very graphic and poignant in Isaiah 5:1-7, a passage Jesus seems to have drawn upon here (see also Jeremiah 2:2, 21; 6:9; Ezekiel 15; 17:5-10; 19:10-14; Hosea 10:1; 14:7). Jesus, with all believers “abiding” in him, is the true vine —the true fulfillment of God’s plan for his people (see Psalm 80:8-17). The new society of God’s people —Christians —originates from Christ and is united to him as branches to a vine.

“My Father is the vinedresser.”NKJV God is the Gardener, the cultivator of the Vine and the branches. In order to achieve their best productivity, grapevines need the attention of a loving gardener. Wild vines are unproductive. God’s role in producing growth is recognized throughout the Bible. Paul described his work as merely part of God’s plan when he wrote, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6 NIV, see also Colossians 2:19).

“Every branch in Me.”NKJV Believers, both sincere and false, are pictured here as the branches. The union between the Vine and the branches is characterized by the expression in Me. Christ is the Vine, and God is the Vinedresser who cares for the branches to make them fruitful. The branches are all those who claim to be followers of Christ. The fruitful branches are true believers who by their living union with Christ produce much fruit. But this union can be broken. The Father “cuts off every branch . . . that bears no fruit.”NIV Those who become unproductive —those who turn back from following Christ after making a superficial commitment —will be separated from the Vine (see 15:6 for more discussion on the specific identity of the unproductive branches). Unproductive followers are as good as dead and will be cut off and tossed aside. Fruit is not limited to soul winning. In this chapter, answered prayer, joy, and love are mentioned as fruit (15:7, 11-12). Galatians 5:22-24 and 2 Peter 1:5-8 describe additional fruit, explained as qualities of Christian character.

In contrast, “every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”NKJV The combination of the Greek words, airei (translated “takes”) and kathairei (translated “prunes”) provides an interesting word play that English cannot match. Jesus made a distinction between two kinds of pruning: (1) removing what does not bear fruit, and (2) cultivating what does. Successful gardeners know that pruning, cutting back the branches, increases fruit bearing. Each spring vinedressers cut back each vine to its root stock to enhance its fruitfulness. Sincere believers, the fruitful branches, will be “pruned,” meaning that God must sometimes discipline us to strengthen our character and faith. But branches that don’t bear fruit are “cut off” at the trunk and completely discarded because they are worthless and often infect the rest of the plant. People who won’t bear fruit for God or who try to block the efforts of God’s followers will be cut off from his life-giving power.

PAINFUL GROWTH

The act of pruning appears harsh. The vinedresser cuts back the lush, growing branches just as they are about to flower. The wise gardener knows that good must sometimes be sacrificed for better. Grape branches or tendrils can grow very fast and very long (twelve to twenty feet). But as they develop length and size, they use resources that could be channeled into making fruit. Pruning focuses the growth and energy of the plant. A lush vine with little fruit has failed its purpose.

God’s pruning of our lives can be painful. He may limit or remove achievements, objects, and abilities. These may not be wrong in themselves, but God knows they will detract from our fruitfulness. We must not resent God’s pruning. Instead, God’s discipline should cause us to turn to him with renewed desire to be productive.

15:3-4 “You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.”NRSV The Greek word for “cleansed” (katharoi) means “purged” or “pruned.” (It is the participle form of the verb kathairei appearing in verse 2.) Jesus’ illustration here shifts to a different level. This cleansing is spiritual, taking away the contamination of sin. This verse indicates that the disciples were already clean because they had accepted the Lord’s word; they were ready for fruit bearing. But not so with Judas, the betrayer; he was not clean —therefore, he was one of those branches that had been cut off.

“Abide in Me, and I in you.”NKJV This verse presents an important theme in this passage: Believers are to abide or remain in Jesus, the Vine. The Greek word for “abide” is spoken as a command. It also has an ongoing emphasis; that is, the command to “abide” is not fulfilled in a single act. Abiding, for the disciples and for all believers today, means to make a constant, moment-by-moment decision to follow Christ. And we must not be passive —believers don’t just sit and “abide” until they die. Instead, we must be active —we have a lot to do.

ABIDE IN ME

Abiding in Christ means:

• believing that he is God’s Son (1 John 4:15)
• receiving him as Savior and Lord (John 1:12)
• doing what God says (1 John 3:24)
• continuing to believe the gospel (1 John 2:24)
• relating in love to the community of believers, Christ’s body (John 15:12)

Each of these activities begins at some point, but the long-term (branch-to-vine) practice is “abiding.”

“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”NKJV Curiously, a grapevine branch can survive and produce foliage for a while after it has been severed, but it cannot produce fruit unless it is connected to a root stock. As Jesus had a living dependence on the Father (see 6:57), so believers in Jesus need to have a living dependence on him.

15:5-6

“Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”NRSV Each branch that continues to remain in the Vine will continually produce fruit. This “fruit” could be new converts (15:5), or “the fruit of the Spirit” (see Galatians 5:22), or both. The fruit of the Spirit displayed in our lives should attract people to Jesus and thereby make them new members of God’s vine. Jesus’ emphasis here was not to dwell on our glaring inadequacies, but to remind us of the incomparable adequacy that comes from our relationship with him.

ARE YOU ATTACHED?

Many people try to be good, honest people who do what is right. But Jesus says that the only way to live a truly good life is to stay close to him, like a branch attached to a vine. Apart from Christ our efforts are unfruitful. Are you receiving the nourishment and life offered by Christ, the Vine? If not, you are missing the key to living the Christian life.

“Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”NRSV Each branch that does not continue to abide in the vine is removed from the vine. The branch seems physically attached, but is not organically part of the plant because it does not participate in the life-giving flow of the vine. Sooner or later, that branch will drop off and have to be discarded. Three traditional interpretations have tried to identify who these discarded branches might represent:

1. For some, these branches are true believers who have lost their salvation because they were cut off from Christ and burned. Some think this is also what is described in Romans 11:20-22 and Hebrews 6:8. This view challenges those whose security had become a point of pride. However, it leaves a much larger group (who believe that “something more is required” of them) in a constant state of turmoil and doubt and also contradicts other passages like John 3:16, 36; 5:24; 10:28-29; Romans 8:1.
2. For others, these burned branches are Christians who will lose rewards but not salvation on the day of judgment (1 Corinthians 3:15). But this is probably not true because Jesus was speaking of dead branches. This view would actually fit better under the idea of extreme pruning (discipline), rather than the picture of separation and loss that Jesus gives.
3. For still others, these burned branches refer to those professing to be Christians who, like Judas Iscariot, are not genuinely saved and therefore are judged. Judas, a disciple of Jesus, seemed like a branch, but he did not truly believe. Therefore, he was cut off; his fate was like that of a dead branch. Given John’s concern to make committed disciples of his readers and Jesus’ goal to bring people into an “abiding” relationship with himself, this view provides a healthy balance. It keeps the decision of destiny as God’s responsibility while preserving an emphasis on our responsibility to “remain” in the relationship. In any case, the verse is not so much aimed at creating discomfort and doubt as it is in teaching the importance of daily connectedness with Christ.

15:7-8 “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you.”NRSV The Greek expression for “words” (rhemata) indicates the individual utterances of Jesus; another Greek expression (logos) indicates Jesus’ entire message. True disciples do more than just believe what Jesus says; they let Jesus’ words abide in them. Jesus’ words had cleansed them (15:3), so Jesus equated abiding in him with abiding in his words.

MORE THAN WORDS

How do we let Jesus’ words abide in us? The word abide implies intimate knowledge of what a person has said. But it also implies that the words become a vital part of the way a believer lives. So Jesus’ words abide in us when we know what he said and did, and when we allow those words and actions to affect the way we live. By reading and memorizing, we take in God’s Word; by obeying, we indicate that the words abide in us:

• We learn from Jesus’ actions and teaching what to do.
• We learn from his responses how we should respond.
• We learn from his compassion how we should love others.
• We learn from his obedience how we should submit to the Father.
• We learn from his self-control how to stay pure and strong.

“Ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”NRSV In this passage and in 14:13-14, “asking God” is connected with fruit bearing and doing greater things for God. When a believer abides in Christ and Christ’s words abide in him, that person’s prayers will be answered. This does not mean that all requests are granted —for the context suggests that the prayers should pertain to fruit bearing (either helping others believe, or showing more of the fruits of the Spirit in one’s life) and glorifying the Father. An essential part of being a disciple requires bearing fruit for the Lord. And in order to pray for results, a person must abide in Christ. For when we abide in him, our thoughts and desires conform to his, and we can pray “in his name” (14:13), knowing that our requests please God. We can be assured then that whatever we ask will be done.

A vine that bears much fruit glorifies God, for daily he sends the sunshine and rain to make the crops grow, and he constantly nurtures each plant and prepares it to blossom. What a moment of glory for the Lord of the harvest when the harvest is brought into the barns, mature and ready for use! He made it all happen! This farming analogy shows how God is glorified when we come into a right relationship with him and begin to “bear much fruit” in our lives.

15:9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”NKJV Believers must abide in Jesus (15:4), abide in his words (15:7), and abide in his love. For the Son to love us in the same way that his Father loves him means we receive the greatest love possible. We should respond with total dedication, commitment, and obedience.

FRUIT BEARING

While it would be natural to take “much fruit” as the standard for comparing ourselves with others, it would also be wrong. Use these criteria to gauge your spiritual productivity:

1. Is my life bringing God glory?
2. Is my life an example of discipleship?

Depending on skills, gifts, and opportunities, a believer may produce “much fruit” in a limited area of service or a forgotten corner of the world. God does not want quantity to determine how pleasing we are to him.

15:10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.” NKJV We can abide in Jesus’ love by keeping his commands —just as he kept his Father’s commands. If we do so, we will experience the daily joy of obedience to our Lord.

“Just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”NKJV Jesus himself modeled two important behaviors for true disciples: (1) since he obeyed his Father’s commands, they can obey his; (2) and he loved them, so they should love one another. Jesus not only tells us what to do; he shows it through his life.

FULL JOY

When things go well, we feel elated. When hardships come, we sink into depression. But true joy rises above the rolling waves of circumstance. Joy comes from a consistent relationship with Jesus Christ. When our lives intertwine with his, he helps us walk through adversity without sinking into debilitating lows, and we can manage prosperity without moving into deceptive highs. The joy of living with Jesus Christ daily keeps us levelheaded no matter how high or low our circumstances.

15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”NKJV Jesus does not call Christians to a dull existence of being hated by the world, obeying commands, and waiting to get to heaven. Instead, he offers us fullness of joy! Nothing else in all the world can bring the joy that we find in serving, abiding in, and obeying Christ. Jesus had promised, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (10:10 NIV).

15:12-13 Jesus summed up all his commands in one: “Love one another as I have loved you.”NKJV And how did Jesus ultimately express his love?

LOVING HIS WAY

We are powerless to obey Jesus’ command to love unless he lives within us. He must enable us to love in his way. Consider all the provisions he gives us to enable us to love others:

• He frees us from the tyranny of self-love.
• He frees us from crippling guilt.
• He focuses our thoughts on others, not on our own problems or shortcomings.
• He restrains our selfish desires.
• He comforts us by the Holy Spirit.
• He challenges us with his own example of patience and concern for others.
• He encourages us with the support of other Christians.

With his powerful life within us, we can be channels for his love to others.

“Greater love has no one that this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”NKJV The highest expression of love we could have for another would be laying down our life for someone else —just as Jesus did for those he loved. We must love each other sacrificially, as Jesus loved us, and he loved us enough to give his life for us (see Romans 5:7-8). We may not have to die for someone, but we can practice sacrificial love in many other ways: listening, helping, encouraging, giving. We do not need to feel love for everyone. Some people will be difficult to love, but still we are commanded to act lovingly toward our fellow believers.

15:14-15

“You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.”NRSV In those days, the disciples of a rabbi were considered his servants. Jesus would now change that relationship; the disciples were to be not his servants but his friends. Jesus considered them his friends because he had told them everything he had heard from the Father. This showed that Jesus trusted them to receive these communications and then pass them on to others as the gospel. In fact, he had chosen and appointed them for this task.

CLOSE FRIENDSHIP

What kind of relationship do you have with Jesus? Do you picture yourself as a reluctant servant or an intimate friend? The following questions will help you determine the quality of your relationship with Jesus:

• Do you do what he commands? (He wants you to love him enough to love others.)
• Do you know what he wants to do in the world? (He wants others to experience his love and know who he is.)
• Do you know how Jesus thinks? (He wants you to be familiar with what he heard from the Father.)

15:16 “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.”NRSV Jesus chose these disciples and appointed them to spread the gospel and bear fruit for God’s kingdom. The Lord chooses each believer to be a branch in the Vine —a branch that bears fruit that will last. The remaining, or lasting, fruit means either new believers whose faith perseveres, or the enduring quality of the fruit of the Spirit —especially brotherly love.

THE CHOICE

Jesus made the first choice —to love and to die for us, to invite us to live with him forever. We make the next choice —to accept or reject his offer. Unless he chose us, we would have no choice to make.

Then, Jesus speaks of making requests to the Father: “That whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”NKJV As in verses 7-8, Jesus linked the request making with the fruit bearing. The Father would answer their requests in order to help them accomplish the mission he gave them —to produce “fruit that will last.”

15:17 “This is my command: Love each other.”NIV This verse capsulizes the theme that Jesus introduced in verse 12 and yet also serves as a contrast for what follows. The disciples must love one another because they would take Jesus’ message to a world that despised them. Christians get plenty of hatred from the world; from each other we need love and support.

Jesus legislated love. He required his disciples to make peace with one another, to place the interests of others above their own, to solve differences quickly. He knew they were diverse in background, but he ordered them to love each other. Jesus knew that setting this high standard was essential to preserving the unity of the church. If he required it, the believers would accept and live out this standard. Backbiting, disrespect, and bitterness toward fellow believers strips the church of its power.

GET-FRUIT-QUICK SCHEME

Jesus wants our fruitfulness to have enduring quality. Whether the fruit appears in our lives or in others, the fruit should be lasting. Results should not be so rushed that they lack dependable roots; superficial results may appear flowery but actually lack substance. A phony spiritual image is deeply dishonest and cannot generate new growth. Ministers or ministries that distort the truth or utilize statistics to make their growth seem more impressive actually undermine the good they may actually accomplish. Jesus has not given us a get-fruit-quick scheme for spiritual living. Genuine growth takes time and lasts much longer than instant successes. Jesus intends our fruit to last for eternity!

Do you allow small problems to get in the way of loving other believers? Jesus commands that you love them, and he will give you the strength to do it.

COMMANDED TO LOVE

Our world wants love to be spontaneous and driven by feeling. But Jesus knows our deeper need. We know we ought to love even when we don’t feel like it because we want others to love us when we are unlovable. In Jesus we find both the supreme model for loving and the supreme resource. He commands us to love, and he helps us accomplish his command.

Jesus knew that if we would practice love, then the feelings of love would follow naturally. If we waited to be motivated by affection for others, we would never love others. Treating others with honor and respect (even when we don’t feel they deserve it) may generate good will and affection. If we understand how deeply we are loved by God in spite of our sin, we will be pushed in the direction of loving others ourselves. Those who do not realize God’s love for them find it difficult to love others.

JESUS WARNS ABOUT THE WORLD’S HATRED / 15:18–16:4 / 216

Jesus called the disciples to abide in him and to love one another. But their relationship with the world would be entirely different. Because they loved Christ and were so like him, the world would transfer its hatred of Christ to the disciples. Yet they must take the Good News to the world. This section explains how the disciples, with the help of the Comforter, would continue Jesus’ work of glorifying the Father in a hostile world.

Disciples today have the same calling. Because we can do nothing apart from Christ, we must abide in him. The world hates us. Why? Because we have left the kingdom of darkness and entered the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:12-13). As light, we expose the evil deeds of unbelievers. People don’t like to have their sinfulness exposed. On top of that, Christians should have a contented lifestyle, inner joy and peace, certainty of the future, lack of fear of death, and love for their enemies. People without God feel, sometimes unconsciously, threatened. Atheistic governmental systems know that allegiance to Jesus keeps people spiritually free who may be under their control in every other way. Refusal to worship Caesars, even though done with respect, had an impact similar to armed rebellion. So the government hated Christians, and the world will hate us. We need to love and support other believers, who share our same goals.

By warning the disciples, Jesus disarmed their disappointments. When oppression would come, they would remember that he had told them what to expect. Jesus did not want them to lose hope when the days became difficult.

LIVING THREATS

Though people cannot always verbalize why they reject Christianity, they have specific reasons. Christianity, by its very existence, threatens the systems of this world. Fundamentally, we believe in a God the world cannot accept. Here are several reasons the world rejects Christianity:

• Christians’ values contradict the values of those who do not follow Jesus. The world rejected the way Jesus lived, and will reject the way we live, if we live like Jesus.
• Christians submit to God in a world that deifies either independence or rigid conformity to a human system. Christians are free from all authority except God (and those authorities that God has ordained). The world resented Jesus’ freedom; it will resent ours.
• Christians believe in absolutes in a world that proclaims absolute pluralism and the absence of divine standards.
• Christians return love for hatred and are therefore hated even more. Jesus forgave those who crucified him. Christians who show Jesus’ kind of love are misunderstood and hated even more.

15:18-19 “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you.”NRSV Jesus was hated from the very beginning (when Jesus was a young child, King Herod sought him out to kill him —Matthew 2:13-16). He was hated at the end when the people rejected him as the Savior and called for his crucifixion. The same world would surely hate those who proclaim allegiance to the crucified Lord.

“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.”NIV Jesus wants believers to be distinctive; he sets us apart from the world. His choosing and setting us apart makes us holy and helps us grow. Our very separation from the world arouses the world’s animosity. The world would prefer that we were like them; since we are not, they hate us (see 1 Peter 4:3-4).

WELCOMED REJECTION

Jesus taught us to expect rejection. Rejection may be difficult to take, but if we never experience it, we may be hiding our Christianity from others. If we profess Christ and are warmly embraced by the world, we should reexamine our commitment and lifestyle. If we remain silent about our faith in order to gain acceptance by the world, we have made a poor trade. In fact, we are being dishonest in two ways: We deny the faith we claim as central in our lives, and we deceive those whose acceptance we want by not revealing our Christian faith. The Scriptures warn us, “Friendship with the world is hatred toward God” (James 4:4 NIV; see also 2 Timothy 3:10-12; 1 John 2:15-17; 3:1; 4:5-6).

15:20-21 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’”NKJV Jesus had told the disciples this earlier that evening (13:16; also Matthew 10:24). He had been speaking of their need to imitate his acts of humble service. They also needed to understand that if their Lord was not respected or honored by the world, they should expect even harsher treatment.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Every believer is a witness for Jesus —either good or bad. Unbelievers will develop their opinion about Jesus by watching Jesus’ followers. If you are following Jesus and trying to be a good witness for him, you will encounter some who will scoff, some who will ignore your witness, and some who will downright hate (even persecute) you. But there will also be those who will believe, turn to Christ, and find salvation. Each day, ask God to help you see those people he wants you to reach!

“If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”NIV To persecute believers is to persecute Christ because believers are an extension of Christ, as branches are an extension of the vine. Yet despite certain persecution, believers are called to share the gospel —this includes not just telling the story, but giving the invitation to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord. Before Jesus ascended to heaven, he commanded his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV). Believers can claim that they have been sent in the same way that Jesus claimed to have been sent by the Father. The gospel begins by rescuing others, but it also recruits them for service in carrying on the gospel.

15:22-25 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.”NIV Jesus did not mean that the Jews would have been without sin had he not come to live among them. He meant that they would not have been guilty of rejecting God if they had not rejected Jesus Christ —who was God in the flesh. But since they did reject Jesus, who came to reveal God the Father to all humanity, they had no excuse for their sin. Their rejection of Jesus caused their sin to be fully exposed because, as Jesus said, “Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin.”NRSV They actually hated the Son and the Father —even after seeing the marvelous works Jesus performed.

“But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.”NIV Like Nicodemus, the entire nation should have responded, “No one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him” (3:2 NIV). Ironically, their own Scriptures predicted this rejection and hatred. Jesus knew this was “to fulfill what is written in their Law.”NIV Jesus quoted Psalm 69:4: “They hated me without a cause.”NRSV (See also Psalm 35:19.) The Jews had no reason to hate Jesus —he came as their Savior, fulfilling their Scriptures, healing many, and promising eternal life to those who believed in him. Yet the people thought they were serving God by rejecting Jesus, when in reality, they were serving Satan (8:44).

15:26-27