Presented by: Josh Massop, Trevor
Scott, and Aaron Weiss
As we come into John 15 we find it opens with Jesus’ allegory of the vine and
the branches. Chapter 14 concludes with the statement “come now; let us leave”.
It is possible that Jesus and the Eleven have left the upper room and began
walking across the city of Jerusalem down into the Kidron Valley that bought
them to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. If that is the case
they may have passed the great golden vine that decorated the door to the Holy
Place of the temple or else the vines that grew close to the great walls of the city
and stretched along it. This is not certain, however, for the party may have
lingered in the upper room even after Christ’s statement. Whether they stayed
or left the upper room Jesus was using his picture of the vine to teach truth.
“The vine was grown all over Palestine as it still is. It is a plant which needs a
great deal of attention if the best fruit is to be got out of it. It is grown
commonly on terraces. The ground has to be perfectly clean. It is sometimes
trained on trellises; it is sometimes allowed to creep over the ground upheld by
low forked sticks; it sometimes even grows around the doors of the cottages; but
wherever it grows careful preparation of the soil is essential. It grows
luxuriantly and drastic pruning is necessary. So luxuriant is it that the sips are
set in the ground at least twelve feet apart, for it will creep over the ground
quickly. A young vine is not allowed to fruit for the first three years and each
year is cut drastically back to develop and conserve its life and energy. When
mature, it is pruned in December and January. It bears two kinds of branches,
one that bears fruit and one that does not; and the branches that do not bear fruit
are drastically pruned back, so that they will drain away none of the plant’s
strength. The vine can not produce the crop of which it is capable without
drastic pruning – and Jesus knew that.
Further, the wood of the vine has the curious characteristic that it is good for
nothing. It is too soft for any purpose. At certain times of the year it was laid
down by the law, the people must bring offerings of wood to the Temple for the
altar fires. But the wood of the vine must not be brought. The only thing that
could be done with the wood pruned out of a vine was to make a bonfire of it
and destroy it.” (William Barkley)
“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 went on to use
the picture of the friend. These two pictures of the believer – 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.” (Warren W. Wiersbe) It is also to be noted that there is a division that
comes between John 15:1-8 and John 15:9-17. Both sections speak of ‘remaining’,
the first of remaining in the vine/Jesus, the second of remaining in Jesus’ love.
Both hold up fruitfulness as the disciple’s goal (vv. 5,16); and both tie such
fruitfulness to prayer (vv 7-8, 16). (The Gospel according to John by D.A. Carson)
GREAT GOLDEN VINE
MOUNT OF OLIVES
Jesus speaks of himself as the true vine. The emphasis is on the word true.
“This does not mean that he is true as opposed to that which is false but, rather,
that he is the one, perfect, essential and enduring vine before which all other
vines are but shadows. The word is used in precisely the sense elsewhere where
Jesus is declared to be the “true light” (1:9), the “true bread” (6:32), and the “true
tabernacle” (Heb. 8:2)” (The Gospel of John by James Montgomery Boice)
“When the vine imagery is used in the Old Testament it is mostly used of Israel
in its sinfulness rather than its fruitfulness. (Psalms 80:8-19; Isaiah 5:1-7;
Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 19:10-14 and Hosea 10:1-2) Hosea 10:1-2 sees the nation as
concerned not to bring forth the fruit that brings good to others, as God would
have the people do, but as concerned with fruit “for himself”. It is not in this
way that real fruitfulness is achieved. Jesus, by contrast, was and is the true
vine. His whole life was a ministry, a service of others. And it was about to
culminate in a death that would bring untold blessing to those for whom he
died. In Jesus’ “I am” statement, in saying, “I am the true vine,” again harkens
his audience to his other “I am” statements, but also into the fuller meaning of
Jesus’ symbolism as the source of life and sustaining relationship of the
branches, followers of Christ.
Jesus speaks of the Father as “the gardener” where the Greek term (georgos)
really means a “farmer”. The word basically means someone who works the
land or tills the soil and thus is the right term for a farmer or a gardener. But in
this context it means someone who works with vines, not someone engaged in
general farming.” (Reflections on the Gospel of John by Leon Morris)
There has been a great deal of discussion regarding the term and context of the
phrase “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.” The King James
Version of the Bible says “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh
away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth
more fruit.” There are a number of translations that a person can look at and
each one has the thought that if a branch does not bear fruit it is cut off or taken
away but the branch that does bear fruit will be pruned. The Greek word for
“cut off” and “takes away” is the word “airo”. “The word “airo” has four basic
meaning, which are, proceeding from the most fundamental to the most
figurative: (1) to lift up or pickup, (2) to lift up figuratively, as a lifting up one’s
eyes or voice, (3) to lift up with the added thought of lifting up in order to carry
away, and (4) to remove.” (The Gospel of John by James Montgomery Boice)
There are a number of commentaries that speak to this as well. The one thought
deals with this as loosing ones salvation if not bearing fruit, another says that
the branch is lifted up so that it can produce fruit, still anther deals with the
non-bearing branch as one that was not truly connected to the vine. It is not our
intention to discuss these issues at this time. The importance of this is to deal
with the privileges and responsibilities of the branch and as friends.
“An important part of looking after a vine is pruning. Left to itself a grape vine
will tend to produce large quantities of foliage, and this tendency must be
checked if maximum fruitfulness is to be attained. So the gardener will do a
good deal of pruning in order to encourage fruitfulness.” Anything that will
cause the vine to not be fruitful, or hinders the sap from flowing unabated into
the vine the gardener will be aggressive in pruning so that the branches are able
to produce maximum amount of fruit.
The other phrase in these two verses is the word “clean”. It is thought that
“when Jesus speaks of the continued “cleansing” of the branches after they have
already become “clean”, the disciples in the story world and John’s ideal
audience might recall 13:10 which implies that the disciples are mostly clean but
their feet must sill be washed.” (The Gospel of John by Craig S. Keener) The
disciples were clean but not all of them because of the word of God, which Jesus
declared to them and to which they had believed and had taken hold of the
disciples lives. William Hendriksen suggests that those who bear fruit, evidence
Christ-like virtues and behaviour, are being cleansed more and more; having
already been justified, receiving “the grace of daily renewal , until finally
completely sanctified , they reached the shores of Heaven. (298, William
Hendriksen)
The fruit that is spoken of in verse 2 and subsequently throughout this passage
of scripture can be safely concluded to represent good works which God values
because it glorifies Him. In Galatians 5:22 the fruit of the Spirit is listed as “love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, selfcontrol.” To generalize inward and outward fruit one could say; you bear
outward fruit when you allow God to work through you to bring Him glory.
Fruit is an inevitable outcome and expression of a continual relationship with
the vine. It is, perhaps, important to emphasize the ongoing nature of abiding
and remaining in the vine, Christ, as a continuous discipline offered in Christ,
but also wholly the responsibility of the individual.
A branch cannot bear fruit without the vine to give it life and strength. The
branch is of the same nature and has one life with the vine, but has no other
purpose than to bear fruit. “A branch is lifeless and useless unless it remains
attached to the vine. The living sap from the stock flowing into it enable it to
produce grapes; otherwise it is fruitless. So with Jesus’ disciples, past, present
and future; only as they remain in union with him and derive their life from him
can they produce the fruit of the Spirit.”(The Gospel & Epistles of John by
F.F.Bruce)
“Jesus expects each of his followers not only to bear fruit, but to bear much fruit.
Right through this passage there runs the thought that fruitfulness is impossible
apart form Christ, but that is inevitable if we preserve vital contact with him.
Fruitfulness is not something we achieve in the natural energies of the flesh but
something that follows naturally enough when we are in Christ.” (Reflections
on the Gospel of John by Leon Morris) “The admonition, ‘abide in me,’ is in
agreement with numerous exhortations addressed to believers, warning them
against apostasy and bidding them to abide in faith.” (299, William Hendriksen)
While this passage does not disagree with scripture’s assertion that once some is
truly saved, they remain saved (John 10:27-29); but God does not keep a person
on the path to salvation without the diligence and observance of the individual.
It is the strength to remain in Christ that comes from God alone.
It is of interest to note that remaining and obeying come together as we will see
in the next section. To “remain in me” refers to something that we must do. We
must trust, obey and detach ourselves from everything else, cling to Christ. If
we do not continually abide or remain in Christ the warning is that we will
eventually whither up and bear no fruit. The allegory clearly portrays the
outcome of a branch poorly rooted in the vine, as unproductive and dying.
“Abiding in Christ is important for other reasons that the production of
Christian character, the bringing forth of Christian qualities in the life day by
day. Jesus now tells his hearers that it is a condition of prevailing prayer. If you
remain in me he says, bring out his point of personal relationship and my words
remain in you, which stresses the importance of being at home in Jesus’
teaching, then ask what you will and it will be done for you. Jesus is not simply
telling the disciple that if they pray certain things will follow. He is
encouraging them to pray indeed, commanding them to pray. Disciples are to
ask what they will and it will be done for you. We should not understand this to
mean that prayer is a kind of magic talisman, such that ay desires the Christian
may have are bound to be gratified. Jesus is talking about prayer that is made
by the person who remains in him and in whom his words remain. In other
words, he is speaking about the person whose life is directed singly towards the
doing of the will of God.” (Reflections on the Gospel of John by Leon Morris)
It is important to remember “that a person who abides in Christ and in whose
heart utterances are in the complete control, will ask nothing that is contrary to
Christ’s will, for he will always ask in the spirit of, ‘not my will but thine be
done.’” (302, William Hendriksen) It is therefore easier to understand how God
will answer whatever we ask of him when praying from a heart in daily
communion with him and surrendered to him. This continual remaining and
abiding in Christ is a developing understanding of how to pray, not from our
human desires, according to God’s will.
“Jesus begins with the Father’s love for him. That is the foundation of
everything. It is only because of the Father’s deep love that Jesus’ earthly
mission takes place. Jesus goes on to say that, in the same way as the Father
loves him, he loves the disciples. Jesus leaves no doubt that he loves them and
that they should take care that they remain in that love. There is a sense in which
it is impossible to stop Christ from loving us. In that sense we need do nothing.
But there is another sense in which we can so live and feel and think that we
cease to find that love the center of our being. We can turn our thoughts and our
attention to the things of this life and be so caught up in that life that we cease to
remain in that love. As far as it concerns us, we are thereby no longer in love
and are cutting ourselves off from some of the blessings that Christ offers us.
His love is always first. 1 John 4:19 states, “we love because he first loved us.”
The expression of that love returned to God is, in part, “by keeping his
precepts.” (302, William Hendriksen) This keeping his precepts also flows out of
abiding in his love and relationship. We should never forget that God’s love is
absent; his love “precedes our love. It accompanies our love. It follows our love,
and in the very process of doing this, creates more love towards him in our
hearts.” (303, William Hendriksen) Thus, the abiding believer finds herself
drawn closer and closer to God through Christ and his unfathomable love.
The service of God is a joyous affair and Jesus makes that very clear. The
purpose of what he has spoken, he now says, is so that my joy might be in you.
He looks to his followers to have the same joy as he has. They are serving the
same God and they should share the same joy. He puts it another way when he
goes on to say that you might be filled full. He does not want their joy to be
lacking in the slightest degree.
It is likely that Jesus revealed these things to his disciples that they would be
encouraged and reminded of the joy and purpose of a life lived and serving
Christ, experiencing that joyfulness. Note that this joy is not the kind of joy that
the world offers or delights in, but the kind of joy that can only be known
through an abiding relationship in Christ, a complete joy.
Love and keeping of commands are linked. It is very easy to be selective in
our obedience, but that is not what we are called to do. It is true that there are
many commandments, it is also true that in the end they all boil down to one –
love. We who are Christians love, but not because it has been our good fortune
to come across some highly attractive people. We love because we have become
loving people ourselves, people who love because we have been loved, not
because of the merits of the people we encounter on our way through life.”
(Reflections on the Gospel of John by Leon Morris)
“If believers love one another as he has loved them they must lay down their
lives for one another. Early Jewish sources prohibit sacrificing another to spare
one’s own life but still allowed that one’s life take precedence over another’s
life. Nevertheless, though one was not required to love one’s neighbour more
than oneself, Judaism did praise as heroic the rare persons who would sacrifice
their lives on behalf of their friends. Courageous, heroic, and honourable death
was an ancient Mediterranean virtue.
Undoubtedly, this passage foreshadows Jesus’ coming sacrifice on the cross,
whereby he would give himself as a “ransom for many” (Mark 10:45; Matthew
20:28). Even though, Jesus’ original audience would have not been able to link
this meaning to Jesus’ words, it would likely take on fuller meaning with
circulation of John’s gospel. While we cannot model or adopt this exact gift of
Christ’s love, to do so would be inauthentic and blasphemous, but we can adopt
and assume from Jesus’ words that a mentality and discipline of ‘self-sacrificing’
nature. What is likely, Jesus meant to love in such a way to deny ourselves and
love others above ourselves. (305, William Hendriksen)
Hellenistic ideals of friendship include a strong emphasis on loyalty. True
friends were known in time of trouble, when they were most needed. Friends
were also recipients of one’s confidence and intimacy. One difference between
servant-master relationships and those between friends is that servants
withhold secrets from the master but friends do not withhold them from each
other. Isocates advises a careful testing of friends to see if they are worthy of
confidence with secrets. Aristotle notes that true friendship requires confidence
in one’s friend which requires standing the test of time. Josephus, writing about
Judaism for a Greco-Roman readership is eager to pint out the similar emphasis
in Jewish ethics: the Law allows us to conceal nothing from our friends, for there
is no friendship without absolute confidence; in the event of subsequent
estrangement, it forbids the disclosure of secrets. Friends were especially
supposed to be able to maintain confidences.
When Jesus declares that he no longer calls them slaves he signals a new era in
salvation history, the transition point being Jesus’ departure to and return form
the Father. In communicating to them what he has heard from the Father, (15:15)
Jesus acts the role of a faithful disciple who passes on the teachings of the
Father, thus providing a model for the Spirit and the disciples. Even more to the
point, just as Wisdom possess all the special secret knowledge of God and is
thus the truest source of insight about God, Jesus is the truest revealer of the
Father.
Although an allusion to patronal friendship is possible in this passage, the
Greco-Roman ideals of loyalty, intimacy, and sharing are more likely in view.
The subordination of the disciples in obedience is probably more an expression
of covenant loyalty, qualified by their continuing role as servant-disciples, than
the subordination of a client to a patron.
Jesus intimately shares the secrets of his heart with his disciples, treating them
as friends, as God treated Abraham and Moses by revealing himself to them.
The parallels with John 16:13-15 indicate that the Spirit of truth would continue
passing down the revelations from the Father and Jesus to the disciples.
They are his friends, and therefore objects of his self-sacrifice if they do what he
commands the. The paradoxical image of friends not slaves who obey Jesus’
commandments is meant to jar the hearer to attention; friendship means not
freedom to disobey but an intimate relationship that continues to recognize
distinctions in authority. By obeying, they continue to make themselves more
open recipients of God’s love abiding and persevering in ever deeper intimacy
with God.” (The Gospel of John by Graig S. Keener)
“Jesus now harks back for a moment to the figure of the vine and its fruit. On
the day that he first met his disciples and conscripted them into his service with
the command “follow me!’ he chose them that they might share his ministry.
The fruit produced by the branches is the fruit of the vine itself.” (The Gospel &
Epistles of John by F.F. Bruce)
Merrill C. Tenney views the entirety of John 15 as broken into Jesus’ teaching on
our relationship to Christ (v.1-11), relationship of believers to each other (v.1217), and relationship to the world (v.18-27). One’s relationship to Christ should
be at the centre and relationships to others as an outlawing expression of
abiding in Christ. Treating one-another in self-sacrificing nature and service,
and living as ambassadors of Christ to the world. Jesus’ words paint a drastic
contrast between his disciples and the world, and the largest differing feature
being a unique and growing remaining in Christ. “If the world hates you, keep
in mind that it hated me first. 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.” (John 15:18-19) It is not the world, or sin, to which to those who abide in
Christ belong, but Christ himself. (230, Merrill C. Tenney)
That Jesus “appointed” them suggests that he not only exercised a purpose
concerning them but established that purpose” (The Gospel of John by Graig S.
Keener) This purpose that was established has been seen throughout this
passage and that is to be fruitful. “This is the enduring fruit of lives in union
with the ever-living Christ, bearing witness to his abiding grace.” (F.F. Bruce)
“Again the promise of answered prayer is made to the disciple who remains
united to Jesus as the fruit-bearing branch is united to the vine. United to Jesus,
that disciple can plead his prevailing name with confidence in the Father’s
presence.” (F.F. Bruce)
“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.” In both instances fruitfulness is an inevitable
outcome with the privilege of being in vital relationship with Christ. Bearing
fruit that remains and brings glory to the Father. Despite the various
components of the passages teaching, the remaining principle of John 15 clearly
illustrates “just as a vine-offshoot bears fruit only when it abides in the vine, so
also believers will bear spiritual fruit only when they abide in Christ.” (294,
William Hendriksen) The reader clearly gets the teaching, to continue to remain
in Christ in order that you may bear more fruit, spiritual fruit, abundantly.
Given the privilege to ask what they will, the disciples that remain in Christ,
living singly towards the doing of the will of God, can live and ask with a
boldness knowing that they are in the vine.
MacArthur, John., Abiding in Christ: chapter 3 of 6.
http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/1553.HTM
Matthew Henry’s Commentary
www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?com=mhc&b=43&c=15
John Darby’s Synopsis
http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?com=drby&b=43&c=15
Wesley’s Explanatory Notes
http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?com=wes&b=43&c=15
Tenney, Merrill C., John: the Gospel of Belief; An Analytic Study of the Text, Wm B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 1948.
Hendriksen, William, New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Gospel According to John, Baker
Book House, Grand Rapids, 1996.
Murphy, Andrew, the true vine, Whitaker house, Pittsburgh & Colfax Streets, Springdale, PA, 1982.
Burge, Gary M, The NIV application commentary: John, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2000.