John 15 - CSB Disciple’s Study Bible

15:1-2 REVELATION, Author of Life—Jesus Christ is the link that nurtures and sustains life with God. To know and follow him is to be kept alive. To reject or ignore him is to reject the vital “vine” that supplies life to the body. Those who accept Christ’s vital link with God are fed by that bond and grow in God.

15:1-8 THE CHURCH, People of God—Christians relate to Jesus as a branch does to the vine. Without the vine, the branches are useless. Jesus gives his people power to serve him and to bear much fruit, the essential work of Christians. The church is composed of people bound to Christ in faith and bearing fruit for him.

15:1-8 EVANGELISM, Results—God intends for his children to bear fruit, that is to lead others to Christ. Fruit-bearing is possible only for believers who live in constant, prayerful relation to Christ. Several principles of fruit-bearing are found in the passage: (1) Jesus Christ is the source of all life, (2) failing to bear fruit has serious consequences, (3) to bear fruit we must let the Father cut wrong practices and habits out of our lives so we can bear more fruit, (4) fruit-bearing depends on remaining in Christ and drawing on his sustaining grace, (5) we can do nothing that really matters unless we abide in Christ, (6) we are judged if we do not bear fruit, (7) those who bear fruit have their prayers answered, and (8) bearing fruit glorifies God.

15:2-8 ELECTION, Righteousness—The elect are chosen to bear fruit. Lives in Christ are pruned to be even more productive. By remaining in Christ, persons are able to bear fruit to the glory of God, the Father. Branches not in Christ die and are placed in the fire to burn.

15:7 PRAYER, In Jesus’s Name—The words of Christ abiding in the Christian imply that the mind of Christ is behind our asking. Believers in Christ will ask what Christ will honor. See notes on 14:13-14; 15:16.

15:9-12 DISCIPLESHIP, Lordship of Christ—Joy marks the disciple’s life. Human achievements do not produce this joy. Obedience to Christ’s commands is the way to remain in Christ’s love and to experience complete joy. See note on 14:12,15,21.

15:9-14 GOD, Love—The profound love that God the Father has for the Son is the source, and the model, for the love that the Son has for his followers. The love that flows to believers from God the Father and from God the Son places a heavy demand on us: we are to obey God and love each other in the same self-sacrificial way that Jesus loves us. The love of God comes to us, on the one hand, as a free gift. On the other hand, the love of God comes to us as an insistent demand that we live in love for each other and for God. Love is the central characteristic of God and must become the central characteristic of God’s people. See 13:34-35.

15:11 SALVATION, Joy—Overflowing joy comes to those who obey Christ.

15:11 FAMILY, Shared Joy—Joy is a distinctive quality of biblical faith in both the OT and NT. Jesus told his disciples these things so that their joy might overflow in abundance because of their relationship to him and to each other. Joy is intended to be shared whether in worship or in family togetherness (Dt 16:14-15). The Christian family amplifies joy because a relationship with Christ guides family relationships. Uniting the family in Christian faith results in joy for the family (Ac 16:34). Good family relationships bring joy (Pr 10:1; 15:20). Happy experiences can be shared in joy (Lk 1:58). Times of difficulty bring grief, but grief can be turned into joy just as the joy of having a child overcomes the pain of childbirth (Jn 16:20-22). Joy is a gift of God (Ac 14:17). Shared family experiences of joy create memories that continue through life. Families need to guard against letting the difficulties of daily tasks rob them of time to plan enjoyable experiences together.

15:13-15 FAMILY, Friendships—Within the family of God, Jesus’s relationship with his disciples becomes one of friends loving each other. Friendship is a close, intimate relationship in which affection can be expressed freely. The heart of such friendship is the willingness even to give one’s life for a friend. Families can develop friendship within the established role relationships of husband-wife, parent-child just as Jesus and his disciples became friends even though he never ceased being Lord.

15:14-15 THE CHURCH, Servants—Jesus called his disciples “friends.” Friends know the work of their Master. He includes them in his plans and shares the responsibility with them. The Lord chose to work through people who have submitted themselves to him. Jesus shared with each believer the hopes of reaching all people. He gave us the responsibility of sharing the good news of the gospel. We regard ourselves as servants obeying the Master’s commands. Jesus makes his servants his friends by trusting them, sharing his plans in love, and entrusting them with ministry.

15:15 JESUS CHRIST, Son of God—Jesus had unique, intimate knowledge of God. He fulfilled his mission by revealing God to his followers.

15:15-16 REVELATION, Jesus Christ—Christ revealed to his disciples all that God gave him to say and thus manifested God’s full will. He chose disciples to bear fruit, promising fruitful disciples could pray in Christ’s name and be answered.

15:16 PRAYER, In Jesus’s Name—Christians are to continue the work of Christ. Fruit-bearing Christians can expect answers to prayer. People without Christ’s love cannot. The way Christ’s work will be continued depends on prayer offered in his name and within the bounds of his character. See notes on 14:13-14; 15:7.

15:16-17 DISCIPLESHIP, Nature—Discipleship is not a human achievement. The disciple actually becomes a Christian on Christ’s initiative. Christ chose us as disciples to bear fruit for him, that is to live obedient lives and lead others to know him. Christian love and fruit do not mark extraordinary disciples. They mark all disciples. See note on Eph 2:8-10.

15:16-20 ELECTION, God’s Initiative—We may think we have chosen Christ from a number of options. The truth is—he has chosen us. Humans did not design God’s way of salvation in Christ. God initiated salvation and invites people to it.

15:18-27 EVIL AND SUFFERING, Endurance—Suffering caused by our allegiance to Christ proves we belong to him rather than to the world. Suffering must not lead us to desert Christ or to quit witnessing of his love to the world.

15:22-25 SIN, Responsibility—The great sin is rejecting God’s offer of salvation in Jesus brought to our hearts by the Spirit. We cannot commit this sin unless we know the teachings and work of Jesus, that is, unless we have evidence on which to make a personal commitment to Christ. However those who never have a chance to reject Jesus are not thereby entirely innocent. See Rm 1:18-20.

15:23-25 JESUS CHRIST, Son of God—Reaction to Jesus is reaction to the Father because they are personally related in the Trinity. Jesus’s miracles should have shown God to people. Instead they aroused frustrated anger of defensive religious leaders trying to protect their traditions.

15:24 MIRACLE, Revelation—Not even miraculous works convince everyone. The clear revelation of God’s power in Jesus caused many who were spiritually blind to hate instead of to love.

15:26 GOD, Trinity—Father, Son, and Counselor (Holy Spirit) are so closely related with each other that we can make distinctions between them but cannot separate them. In this verse, Jesus will send the Spirit; the Spirit will come from the Father; and, the Spirit will testify concerning Jesus. In 14:16,26 the Father will send the Counselor in the name of Jesus. In 14:18 Jesus promised to come to them himself, apparently a reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit. There is a fundamental unity between the three Persons of the Trinity that must be preserved in our understanding.

15:26-27 HOLY SPIRIT, Mission—The Spirit is a Paraclete, or Counselor. See note on 14:15-21. He assists as disciples witness to Jesus Christ. He witnesses to us (see note on 14:26) about Christ, so we can witness to the world (15:27). The testimony of the Spirit makes the testimony of the church possible. The church received the Spirit at Pentecost. He immediately guided the church to become witnesses (Ac 2). The book of Acts records the early years of the church’s life as, guided by the Spirit, they moved out to witness to an ever wider world. See note on Ac 1:8. The testimony that they gave always concerned Jesus Christ (1Co 15:1-7). That was their gospel, and that was what the Spirit guided them to witness to. The “Spirit of truth” (Jn 14:17; 15:26; 16:13) guided these disciples into “all the truth” (16:13). That never means truth that supersedes the truth of Jesus Christ; Jesus is the truth (1:17; 14:6) into whom the Spirit always guides the disciples.