John 15 - Wiersbe Study Bible

15:1 This is the seventh and last of the “I AM” statements of Christ recorded in the gospel of John. However, Jesus did not stop with this image, but He went on to call His followers “My friends” (v. 14). These two words for believers—branches and friends—reveal both our privileges and our responsibilities. As branches, we have the privilege of sharing His life, and the responsibility of abiding. As friends, we have the privilege of knowing His will, and the responsibility of obeying.

15:2 Of itself, a branch is weak and useless. It is good for either bearing or burning, but not for building (see Ezek. 15). The branch cannot produce its own life; it must draw that life from the vine. It is our communion with Christ through the Spirit that makes possible the bearing of the fruit. The sooner we as believers discover that we are but branches, the better we will relate to the Lord, for we will know our own weakness and confess our need for His strength.

15:4 There are special evidences of salvation, and they are unmistakably clear when believers “abide” in Christ. For one thing, when you are abiding in Christ you produce fruit (v. 2). What that “fruit” is, we will discuss later. Also, you experience the Father’s “pruning” so that you will bear more fruit (v. 2). The believer who is abiding in Christ has his prayers answered (v. 7) and experiences a deepening love for Christ and for other believers (vv. 9,12,13). He also experiences joy (v. 11).

15:5 This abiding relationship is natural to the branch and the vine, but it must be cultivated in the Christian life. It is not automatic. Remaining in Christ demands worship, meditation on God’s Word, prayer, sacrifice, and service—but what a joyful experience it is! Once you have begun to cultivate this deeper communion with Christ, you have no desire to return to the shallow life of the careless Christian.

15:6 A true branch, united with the vine, will always bear fruit. Not every branch bears a bumper crop, just as not every field has a bumper harvest (Matt. 13:8,23), but there is always fruit where there is life. If there is no fruit, the branch is worthless and it is cast away and burned. I do not believe our Lord is teaching here that true believers can lose their salvation, for this would contradict what He taught in John 6:37 and 10:27–30.

15:9 Several times in John’s Gospel you will find Jesus speaking about the Father’s love for Him. We so emphasize God’s love for the world and the church that we forget that the Father loves the Son. Because the Father does love the Son, He has put all things into the Son’s hand (3:35) and has revealed all things to the Son (5:20). The Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world (17:24); He loved the Son when the Son died on the cross (10:17). The amazing thing is believers today can personally experience that same love (17:26).

15:12–17 As a friend of God, Abraham shared God’s secrets (2 Chr. 20:7; Is. 41:8; James 2:23). It is this kind of a relationship that Jesus described when He called His disciples “friends.” It was certainly a relationship of love, both for Him and for each other. The friends of the King could not compete with each other for attention or promotion. They were a part of the “inner circle,” not to promote themselves, but to serve their King. What a rebuke this must have been to the selfish disciples, who often argued over who was the greatest!

15:15,16 These verses summarize what it means to be a friend of the King of kings. It is a humbling experience, for He chose us and we did not choose Him. We must keep this in mind lest we become proud and presumptuous. It means that we keep our ears open and listen to what He says to us.

15:17 Keep in mind that Christian love is not basically a “feeling”; it is an act of the will. The proof of our love is not in our feelings but in our actions, even to the extent of laying down our lives for Christ and for one another (1 John 3:16). Jesus laid down His life for both His friends and His enemies (Rom. 5:10)! While the emotions are certainly involved, real Christian love is an act of the will. It means treating others the way God treats us.

15:18—16:16 This section is tied together by two important themes: the opposition of the world against the church, and the ministry of the Spirit to and through the church. Our Lord had been talking about love (15:9–13,17), but now He is talking about hate, and He uses the word seven times. It seems incredible that anyone would hate Jesus Christ and His people, but that is exactly what the situation is today—some of that hatred comes from religious people. In a few hours, the religious leaders of Israel would be condemning their Messiah and crying out for His blood.

15:18 We should begin by clarifying what Jesus means by “the world,” because the term is used in Scripture in at least three different ways. It can mean the created world (“the very world He created”—1:10), the world of humanity (“For God loved the world so much”—3:16), or society apart from God and opposed to God (“The world cannot receive Him”—14:17). We sometimes use the phrase “the world system” to define this special meaning.

15:20 Jesus is the Shepherd and we are the sheep, and when the world attacks the Shepherd, it affects the sheep (Matt. 26:31). He is the Master (Teacher) and we are the disciples, the learners. But it is encouraging to know that when God’s people are persecuted, our Lord enters into their suffering, for He is the head of the body and we are the members. He feels the persecution of the church. “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). Anything that the enemy can do to us has already been done to Jesus Christ, and He is with us as we suffer.

15:21 The world is spiritually ignorant and blind. If you had asked the religious leaders in Jerusalem if they knew the God they were seeking to defend, they would have said, “Of course we know Him! Israel has known the true God for centuries!” But Jesus said that they did not know the Father and, therefore, they could not know the Son (see 16:3). The religious leaders knew a great deal about Jehovah God and could quote chapter and verse to defend their doctrines, but they did not personally know God.

15:26 How does the Holy Spirit encourage believers when they are experiencing the hatred and opposition of the world? It is primarily through the Word of God. For one thing, the Spirit reminds us that this opposition is clearly expressed by various writers in the Scriptures. In 15:25, Jesus quoted Psalms 35:19 and 69:4. The Word assured Him that the hatred of the world was not because of anything He had done to deliberately incite such opposition. We today can turn to passages like Philippians 1:28–30; 2 Timothy 2:9–12; Hebrews 12:3,4; and 1 Peter 4:12–19. We also have the encouraging words of our Lord found in the Gospels.