We have already considered the circumstances under which the two Chapter s upon which we now enter were spoken; and, if we have been correct in the view taken of them, we are not to imagine that the first figure of chap. 15 was suggested by a vine seen at the moment on the slope of the temple mount,... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:1. I AM THE TRUE VINE, AND MY FATHER IS THE HUSBANDMAN. In the Old Testament the vine is the type of Israel, planted by the Almighty as the husbandman to adorn, refresh, and quicken the earth (Psalms 80; Isaiah 5:1; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 19:10; Hosea 10:1). But Israel proved itself ‘the deg... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:2. EVERY BRANCH IN ME WHICH BEARETH NOT FRUIT, HE TAKETH IT AWAY; AND ALL THAT WHICH BEARETH FRUIT, HE CLEANSETH IT, THAT IT MAY BEAR MORE FRUIT. Two parts of the husband man's operations with his vine are here alluded to, the first that of taking away unfruitful branches. Any branch of the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:3. ALREADY ARE YE CLEAN BECAUSE OF THE WORD WHICH I HAVE SPOKEN UNTO YOU. On ‘word,' not ‘words,' see on chap. John 14:24. The ‘ye' is emphatic. _They_ were pruned, _they_ were ‘clean;' and that ‘already,' because they had already received the word which they were now, in their turn, to comm... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:4. ABIDE IN ME, AND I IN YOU. AS THE BRANCH CANNOT BEAR FRUIT OF ITSELF, EXCEPT IT ABIDE IN THE VINE; SO NEITHER CAN YE, EXCEPT YE ABIDE IN ME. Thus cleansed, one thing more is required, that they maintain their position, that they continue in the vine. It is the law of the branch that, if i... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:5. I AM THE VINE, YE ARE THE BRANCHES. HE THAT ABIDETH IN ME, AND I IN HIM, THE SAME BEARETH much FRUIT; BECAUSE APART FROM ME YE CAN DO NOTHING. The transition from John 15:4 to John 15:5 appears to be similar to that from chap. John 5:19-23 to chap. John 5:24, a transition from the princip... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:6. IF ANY ONE ABIDE NOT IN ME HE IS CAST FORTH AS THE BRANCH, AND IS WITHERED; AND THEY GATHER THEM, AND CAST THEM INTO THE FIRE, AND THEY BURN. ‘The branch' here is simply ‘the branch' of John 15:4, the branch considered in itself: the words ‘cast forth' and ‘is withered' are so used in the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:7. IF YE ABIDE IN ME, AND MY SAYINGS ABIDE IN YOU, ASK WHATSOEVER YE WILL, AND IT SHALL BE DONE UNTO YOU. The sudden departure in this verse from the figure which our Lord had been employing is worthy of notice. A somewhat similar departure occurs at John 15:3, and in both cases it takes pla... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:8. HEREIN WAS MY FATHER GLORIFIED, THAT YE MIGHT BEAR MUCH FRUIT AND BECOME MY DISCIPLES. The last verse had expressed the highest and closest communion that can be established between the believer and the Father revealed in the Son, a communion so high, so close, that the former asks whatso... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:9. EVEN AS THE FATHER LOVED ME, I ALSO LOVED YOU: ABIDE IN MY LOVE. By keeping in view what has been said on John 15:8 we shall understand the transition here to the thought of love. The main thought of that verse was, as we have seen, that of union and communion with the Father and the Son;... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:10. IF YE KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS, YE SHALL ABIDE IN MY LOVE; EVEN AS I HAVE KEPT THE FATHER'S COMMANDMENTS, AND ABIDE IN HIS LOVE. The disciples have heard the words ‘abide in my love.' How are they to do so? The words before us are an answer to the question; and they constitute a parallel to... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:11. THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT MY JOY MAY BE IN YOU, AND THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULFILLED. ‘My joy' must be interpreted in the same way as ‘My peace' at chap, John 14:27. It is the joy which Jesus possessed as ‘anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows,' which flowed f... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:12. THIS IS MY COMMANDMENT, THAT YE LOVE ONE ANOTHER, EVEN AS I LOVED YOU. The sum of what was to be said in this part of the discourse has been spoken. One point needs further elucidation love. It is here enjoined and explained anew. The singular ‘commandment' does not differ materially fro... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:13. GREATER LOVE HATH NO ONE THAN THIS, THAT ONE LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS. How great His love which showed itself even unto death for them! They must imitate such love if they will ‘keep His commandment' and exhibit His spirit. There is no contradiction between this statement and th... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:14. YE ARE MY FRIENDS, IF YE DO THAT WHICH I COMMAND YOU. We have here no second motive to the exercise of brotherly love, based upon the obedience which the friends of Jesus are bound to render to Him. The emphatic ‘Ye' shows clearly that Jesus would impress upon them with peculiar force th... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:15. NO LONGER DO I CALL YOU SERVANTS, BECAUSE THE SERVANT KNOWETH NOT WHAT HIS LORD DOETH; but I have called you friends, because all things that I heard from my Father I made known unto you. At chap. John 13:16 Jesus had spoken of them as ‘servants;' and (so closely connected with one anoth... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:16. YE DID NOT CHOOSE ME, BUT I CHOSE YOU, AND APPOINTED YOU, THAT YE SHOULD GO AWAY AND BEAR FRUIT, AND THAT YOUR FRUIT SHOULD ABIDE. But He had not taught them merely to fill their minds with knowledge. He had ‘heard' from the Father that He might ‘do.' They ‘hear' that they may ‘do' also.... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:17. THESE THINGS I COMMAND YOU, THAT YE MAY LOVE ONE ANOTHER. A verse characteristic of the structure of this Gospel, forming like chap. John 5:30 at once a summary (to a large extent) of what has preceded, and a transition to what follows. All the great truths spoken by Jesus are intended... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:18. IF THE WORLD HATETH YOU, KNOW THAT IT HATH HATED ME BEFORE IT HATED YOU. It is the active work of the disciples that has been before us in the preceding verses, but that work always has provoked, and always will provoke the world's hatred. In such a prospect, therefore, there is need for... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:19. IF YE WERE OF THE WORLD, THE WORLD WOULD LOVE ITS OWN; BUT BECAUSE YE ARE NOT OF THE WORLD, BUT I CHOSE YOU OUT OF THE WORLD, BECAUSE OF THIS THE WORLD HATETH YOU. The word ‘of' here calls attention to the root from which one springs. Did the world behold in them its own offspring, it wo... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:20. REMEMBER THE WORD THAT I SAID UNTO YOU, A SERVANT IS NOT GREATER THAN HIS LORD: IF THEY PERSECUTED ME, THEY WILL PERSECUTE YOU ALSO; IF THEY KEPT MY WORD, THEY WILL KEEP YOURS ALSO. The word referred to had been spoken at chap. John 13:16, in an apparently different sense, but really, al... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:21. BUT ALL THESE THINGS WILL THEY DO UNTO YOU BECAUSE OF MY NAME, BECAUSE THEY KNOW NOT HIM THAT SENT ME. Their sufferings shall not only be like those of Jesus, but ‘because of His name,' because of all that is involved in His Person and work the Person and the work which they continually... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:22. IF I HAD NOT COME AND SPOKEN UNTO THEM, THEY WOULD NOT HAVE SIN; BUT NOW THEY HAVE NO EXCUSE FOR THEIR SIN. But in so doing the world is without excuse. Its unbelief, with all that hatred of the disciples to which it led, is its own deliberate act, its ground of condemnation at the bar o... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:23. HE THAT HATETH ME HATETH MY FATHER ALSO. Nay more, in hating Jesus the world was also setting itself against that very God whom it professed to honour. It was really hating not the Son only but His Father whom He revealed. This was the disastrous issue of its course of action! Not they w... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:24. IF I HAD NOT DONE AMONG THEM THE WORKS WHICH NONE OTHER DID, THEY WOULD NOT HAVE SIN; BUT NOW HAVE THEY BOTH SEEN AND HATED BOTH ME AND MY FATHER. Jesus had spoken in John 15:22 of his ‘words' as sufficient to deprive the world of all excuse in rejecting and hating Him. He now turns to H... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:25. BUT THIS COMETH TO PASS, THAT THE WORD MAY BE FULFILLED THAT IS WRITTEN IN THEIR LAW, THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE. The quotation is in all probability from Psalms 69:4, with which Psalms 35:19; Psalms 109:3 may be compared. On the ‘fulfilment' spoken of see what has already been said o... [ Continue Reading ]
John 15:26-27. WHEN THE ADVOCATE IS COME, WHOM I WILL SEND ONTO YOU FROM THE FATHER, THE SPIRIT OF THE TRUTH, WHICH GOETH FORTH FROM THE FATHER, HE WILL HEAR WITNESS CONCERNING ME, AND YE ALSO BEAR WITNESS, BECAUSE FROM THE BEGINNING YE ARE WITH ME. Up to this point Jesus had encouraged His disciple... [ Continue Reading ]