II. THE POSITION OF THE DISCIPLES IN THE WORLD AFTER THE OUTPOURING OF
THE SPIRIT: 15:1-16:15.
Jesus had just promised to His own, in ch. 14, the twofold reunion,
heavenly and earthly, in which the separation should issue, the
thought of which was now so greatly troubling them. In ch. 15. He
transpo... [ Continue Reading ]
1. 15:1-17.
After the words: “Let us go hence,” Jesus and the disciples left
the room which had just been to them, as it were, the vestibule of the
Father's house. Whither do they go? According to _Westcott:_ to the
temple, which was open during the nights of the Passover feast. There
was suspended... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser._ 2. _Every
branch in me which bears not fruit, he takes away; and every branch
which bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit._ 3. _As for
you, you are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to
you._ ”
The pronoun ἐγώ... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 4. “ _Abide in me, and I in you; as the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, no more can you, unless
you abide in me._
To continue in the vine is for a branch the condition of life, and
consequently its only law. All the conditions of fruitfulness are
included in th... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 5. “ _I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me
and I in him, this one bears much fruit; for apart from me, you can do
nothing._ ”
Jesus begins by summarily reaffirming the nature of the relation.
While contemplating the natural vine which He has before His eyes, He
recognizes in... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 6. “ _If any one abides not in me, he is cast forth as the
branch, and is withered; then they gather these branches_, _they throw
them into the fire, and they burn._ ”
It was in Palestine precisely the season of the vine-dressing;
perhaps, as _Lange_ observes, Jesus had before His eyes at this... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask what you will,
and it shall be done for you._ 8. _Herein is my Father glorified, that
you bear much fruit, and so you shall become my disciples._ ”
The parallelism between the two conditions indicated, John 15:7, would
lead us to expect as the for... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you; abide in my
love._ 10. _If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love_,
_as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love._ 11.
_I have spoken this to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy
may be fulfilled._ ”
It... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 12. “ _This is my commandment, that you love one another as I
have loved you._ ”
Comp. John 13:34. This is the normal relation of the branches to one
another, which has as its condition the normal relation of each one to
the vine. So _Hengstenberg_ finds in John 15:1-11 the resume of the
first... [ Continue Reading ]
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
Vv. 12-17.
1. The statement of John 15:13 is, of course, to be interpreted in
view of the subject which is occupying the thought of Jesus. The love
of enemies is not under contemplation.
2. The proof which Jesus gives, that He regards them as friends (John... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 13. “ _No one has greater love than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends._ ”
In the relation to _friends_, there is no greater proof of love than
the sacrifice of one's life on their behalf. There is undoubtedly a
greater proof of love, _absolutely speaking_, it is to sacrifice i... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you._ 15. _I
call you no longer servants, because the servant knows not what his
master does; but I have named you friends, because I have made known
to you all things which I have heard from my Father._ ”
In John 15:14, the emphasis is, not on... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 15 serves to prove the _reality_ of this position of friends which
He has given them. He has shown an unbounded confidence in them by
initiating them unreservedly into the communications which His Father
made to Him with relation to the great work in which He had called
them to labor with Him. T... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 16. “ _You have not chosen me; but I have chosen you and
appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit
should remain; that, whatsoever you may ask the Father in my name, he
may give it you._ ”
The very origin of the relation thus formed between them depends only
on Him.... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 17. “ _I give you these precepts, that you may love one
another._ ”
The pronoun ταῦτα cannot refer to the ἵνα which follows:
“I command you _this, that_ you love one another.” For the plural
proves that this expression includes all the preceding instructions
and suggestions since John 15:1, pa... [ Continue Reading ]
2. 15:18-16:4.
Opposite to this spiritual body whose inward life and outward activity
He has just described, Jesus sees a hostile society arise, which has
also its principle of unity, hatred of Christ and of God: _the world_,
natural humanity, which will declare war against the Church, and which
is... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _If the world hates you, know that I have been the object of its
hatred before you._ 19. _If you were of the world, the world would
love what belongs to it; but because you are not of the world and I
have drawn you out of the world, therefore the world hates you._ 20.
_Remember the word which I ha... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _But they will do all this to you for my name's sake, because they
know not him who sent me._ 22. _If I had not come and spoken to them,
they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their
sin._ 23. _He who hates me, hates my Father also._ 24. _If I had not
done among them works suc... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 22. This blindness which has prevailed in their entire history
(see the discourse of Stephen, Acts 7) might have still been forgiven
them, if, at this decisive moment, they had finally yielded. But the
rejection of this supreme divine manifestation characterizes their
state as an invincible ant... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 23. In the rejection of Jesus there is hatred towards Him, and in
this hatred towards Him, the Jewish malignity reveals itself clearly
as _hatred of God:_ it is distinguished thereby from a mere ignorance,
like that of the heathen. More than this:... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 24. If the testimony which Jesus bore to Himself did not succeed
in enlightening them, His works ought at least to have procured
credence for His testimony. The one who did not have a consciousness
sufficiently developed to apprehend the divine character of His
teachings, had at least eyes to b... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 25. ᾿Αλλά : “ _But_ there is nothing astonishing in
this.” The righteous man of the old covenant had already complained
by the mouth of David (Psalms 35:19; Psa 69:5) of being the object of
the _gratuitous_ hatred of the enemies of God. If their hatred was
wholly laid to their own charge, notwi... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _But when the support shall have come, whom I will send you from
the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he shall
testify of me;_ 27. _and you also shall testify, because you are with
me from the beginning._ ”
_ Weiss_ sees in this intervention of the Spirit's testimony a fac... [ Continue Reading ]