John Chapter 15

The upper Room Discourse continues

I am the True Vine

The final of the seven of the great I Am statements.

1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

Israel was God’s choice vine on which he lavished care and attention (Ps. 80:8 – You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it; Isa. 5:1–7; Jer. 2:2; 6:9; Ezek. 15; 17:5–10; 19:10–14; Hosea 10:1 – Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved,  he improved his pillars.; 14:8).

He longed for fruit, but the vine (Israel) became degenerate and produced rotten fruit. Therefore Jesus, as “the true Vine,” fulfils what God had intended for Israel. The Father is the vinedresser who cultivates and protects the Vine.

2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

A vineyard in biblical times did not bear much resemblance to its mod­ern counterpart. The vines grew upon the ground instead of be­ing tied to some sort of support, yet as long as the vine lay on the soil, it could not bear fruit.

So, the winegrower placed a rock underneath the vine to lift it off the ground, enabling it to bear fruit. That is the point of this passage. The Greek word airó in John 15:2, translated here as takes it away, can also mean “to lift up.” (CS)

The Messiah lifts up every fruitless branch so that it can bear fruit. (JCR)

Perhaps no sentence in the parable is more perverted and wrested and misapplied than this.

Many assert that it teaches that a man may be a real true branch of the vine, a member of Christ, and yet lose all His grace and be finally cast away. In short, the sentence is the favourite weapon of all Arminians, of all who maintain an inseparable connection between grace and baptism (JCR)

The plain truth is that this text is precisely that part of the parable which will not admit of a literal interpretation [in English]. As a matter of fact, it is not true that the Father “takes away” all unfruitful branches. On the contrary, for ~2000 years He has allowed them to exist in the Church (JCR)

In short, it cannot be shown that a “branch in Me” must mean a believer in Me.

In a word, fruitfulness is the great test of being one of my disciples, and he that is not fruitful is not a branch of the true vine.” (JCR)

3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

The disciples, however, needed neither cutting off nor trimming clean because they had already been cleansed by the Lord’s word. One thing is clear at the outset of the chapter: this is not a passage on salvation, but here he is dealing with requirements for a fruitful life on the part of believers.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

7^th Admonition

To abide in Jesus means to be in a continuous, living relationship with Him. Fruitfulness is the result of the Son’s life being reproduced in a disciple.

The word abide or remain, a key word in John’s theology, is menō which occurs 11 times in this chapter, 40 times in the entire Gospel, and 27 times in John’s epistles. Without faith, no life of God will come to anyone. Without the life of God, no real fruit can be produced: Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

10^th Promise

Believers, being the branches, would have a new relationship to the vine. This is the relationship of being in Messiah (in Christ), a concept that the Apostle Paul spells out later in detail in the epistles.

Some believers never seem to produce fruit: If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned (Jn. 15:6).

6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

This is not the fire of hell, but the fire of the judgment seat of Messiah; if the believer proves to be fruitless, then that which will burn is the fruitless branches they have produced—the wood, hay, and stubble of I Corinthians 3:10-15. The result is not the loss of salva­tion, but rather the loss of rewards.

7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

8^th Admonition

In summary, the believer's relationship with the Messiah entails those who abide in Him being lifted up by Him and bearing fruit. He will prune them by way of discipline so they can bear even more fruit. If they fail to produce fruit, then their barren branches will be judged by fire.

8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

To bear fruit presuppos­es that believers are abiding in Messiah. This is how the Father is glo­rified: Believers glorify the Father by bearing fruit. The goal of every disciple is to remain in Jesus and thereby to glorify God by bearing much fruit (15:8). This is accomplished by total dependence on the Lord

9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

9^th Admonition

10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

10^th Admonition

12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Based upon the believer's love for God and God's love for the believer, the admonition is that they are to love one another; they are to love the brethren. A constant and genuine love for one another would be one way to show love for God.

13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

11^th Promise

The difference between servanthood and friendship is that a servant simply obeys the master's orders without being told in advance or in detail what the master's plans are. He knows the plans only insofar as the master chooses to reveal them and only as much as he needs to know to participate in those plans. He does not know the goal nor see the bigger picture.

The word friend may have shocked the disciples, since in the Bible only one other, Abraham is called God's friend (James 2:23).

 If we have friendship with the world, we then experience enmity with God (James 4:1–4).

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

12^th Promise

He chose them for a mission, and His Father would answer their requests in order to accomplish that mission.
Compare with vs 7.

17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

The hatred of the world

18 "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

13^th Promise

Hated by the World

19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

The world hates because:

1. Believers are no longer part of the world system

20 Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

2. It is easier to hate Christians than God himself

21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

3. The world does not know God - so they hate Him, through Christians

22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

4. Christians live by a divine standard - the world hates this.

23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also.

24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.

25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: 'They hated me without a cause.'

The nation thought it was serving God in rejecting Jesus (16:2–3) but in reality it was serving Satan (8:44). Sin is basically irrational. Their hatred of Jesus was without any rational cause which also fits the pattern of hatred for righteous people, as seen in those who hated David (Psa. 35:19; 69:4; 109:3).

26 "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

14^th Promise

The Holy Spirit’s witness

27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

11^th Admonition

Bear witness

15^th Promise

Witness of the disciples will bear fruit