John 15

John 15:1

John tells the Good News about Jesus An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Gospel of John www.easyenglish.info Marion Adams This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 15 Jesus teaches about the *vine and the branches 15:1-17 v1 Then Jesus said, ‘I am like the perfect *vine. My *Father is like the gardener. v2 He cuts off every branch that does not produce fruit. But he prunes and he cleans every fruitful branch. (‘To prune’ means to cut off a part of a plant. This helps it to grow better.) Then the branch will produce even more fruit. v3 You are *clean already because of what I have said to you. v4 A branch needs to be united with the *vine. And you must continue to have the same relationship with me. A branch that is not united with the *vine cannot produce fruit. So your lives need to produce the results that God wants. And you can do this only if you have such a relationship with me.

v5 I am like the *vine. And you are like the branches. You need to have such a close relationship with me. Then you can achieve the results that God wants in your lives. Without me, you will achieve nothing.

v6 Anyone who does not have such a relationship with me is like a *useless branch. That person is like the dry branches that people throw away. They take such branches, and they throw them into the fire. And the fire burns such branches.

v7 But if you have such a close relationship with me, then you can ask me for anything. My words will be in your heart. And I will do whatever you ask.

v8 My *Father can receive great *glory from your lives. But you need to achieve the results that God wants in your lives. And so you show that you really are my *disciples.

v9 I have loved you in the same way as the *Father loves me. So remain in my love. v10 You will remain in my love if you obey my commands. I have obeyed my *Father’s commands, so I remain in his love. v11 I have told this to you so that you will be happy. You will be completely happy, as I am! v12 I am telling you to love each other in the same way that I love you. v13 The greatest love that you can show on behalf of your friends is this: to die on their behalf. v14 You are my friends if you obey me. v15 A slave does not know what his master is doing. So, from this time, I do not speak to you as if you were slaves. No, I speak to you as my friends. Therefore, I have told everything to you that my *Father has told to me.

v16 You did not choose to follow me. I chose you. And I sent you out to achieve the results that God wants in your lives. These results will last. Then my *Father will give to you whatever you ask for in my name [see note on John 14:13-14.] v17 This is my command. Love each other.’

Verses 1-8 Again, Jesus described himself by means of a statement that used God’s special name (‘I am’). This was the 7th time in this *Gospel that Jesus did this. (See note on John 6:35.) In this passage, he compared himself to a *vine.

In the *Old Testament, the *vine was a *symbol of *Israel (for example, Psalms 80:1-16; Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 19:10-14). God had chosen the people in *Israel to belong to him in a special way. But the people in *Israel had not obeyed God. Often they had failed to *worship him properly. Sometimes, they had *worshipped false gods. Sometimes, they behaved as if their own rules about God’s *Law were more important than God himself.

But Jesus called himself ‘the perfect *vine’ (verse 1). Anybody who *believed in him, belonged to God in a special way. So, both *Jews and *Gentiles can join God’s people. They have to join themselves to Jesus. And they do this when they *believe in him.

When we *believe in Jesus, we are like the branches of a *vine. The good work that we do on his behalf is like the fruit. God the *Father is like the gardener who looks after the *vine. The gardener wants the branches to produce much fruit. He does whatever is necessary for this to happen. Sometimes, he must cut off parts of the branch. Otherwise, if he leaves a branch to grow, it will grow too long. It may produce leaves instead of fruit. Or, the branch may grow in the wrong direction. And then that branch will shade the other branches. So other branches would become weak, because they were not receiving enough light.

So, like the branches, we need God to remove everything that is wrong in our lives. We need him to guide us back when we follow our own way instead of his way. We need him to stop us so that we do not hurt other people. We may not realise that we are hurting them. At such times, we especially need God to stop us. We also need him to make us *clean inside our hearts. We cannot do this by our own efforts.

We produce our ‘fruit’ in many different ways. Our ‘fruit’ means the good results that we achieve on behalf of Jesus and on behalf of God’s *kingdom. Genuine *followers of Jesus will produce much ‘fruit’ in their lives. In order to produce ‘fruit’, we need to have a close relationship with Jesus. He is like the *vine. We must take our strength and energy from him. We do this when we spend time with him. So we must pray about everything. We must read the Bible often. We must obey him always. We cannot do his work if we separate ourselves from him. Then we would become like *useless branches.

Some people say that they *believe in Jesus. But they do not pray. They do not study God’s words in the Bible. They do not obey Jesus’ commands. Instead, they do whatever they want to do. They say that they are *Christians. But they do not achieve anything for God. Their lives do not show that they follow Jesus. They may even stop other *Christians who are trying to do God’s work. Such people do not have a close relationship with Jesus. So they are *useless. And therefore God will separate them from genuine *Christians.

In verse 6, Jesus warned what will happen to false *Christians. But immediately, he reminded us of his wonderful promise. This promise is for all of us who remain in a close relationship with him. He will do whatever we ask for in his name. And because we are united with him, our prayers will not be selfish. We will want to ask for only those things that he wants, too. His desires will become our desires. He will grant our requests. And the things that we do on his behalf will bring great *glory to God.

Verses 9-11 There is only one way to be really happy. We must remain in a close relationship with Jesus at all times. Jesus was joyful always because he was united with God the *Father. He knew that his *Father loved him completely. Jesus loved his *disciples as much as his *Father loved him. And Jesus loves all his genuine *followers in this special way. We can know his wonderful love all the time if we remain in a close relationship with him.

But Jesus emphasised that we must obey his commands. Then we will be happy inside our hearts, whether good or bad things happen. When we know Jesus’ love daily, our happiness does not depend on our situation. It depends on him. He will never leave us. And he will always love us.

Verses 12-13 Jesus loves us completely. When we know this, we want to love other people. Jesus loves us so much that he died to *save us. He said that, like him, we too should love other people. So, we should do whatever we can in order to help other people. We do not need always to do great things in order to show our love. For example, we might simply listen to other people. And that shows more love than if we always talk about ourselves. Or, we might help other people even when we have our own problems. We might spend time with other people when we would prefer to do something else. Or we might just do more things on behalf of other people than they would expect.

Verses 14-15 Jesus was the *disciples’ master and their *Lord. Therefore, he had the right to call them his slaves. But slaves do not know their master’s affairs. Instead, Jesus told them the *Father’s plans. And Jesus called them his friends. Jesus is our *Lord and our master, too. He is God’s Son. He caused everything to exist. He has the right to call us his slaves, too. He could demand that we obey him. Slaves do not have a choice. They must obey their master. But Jesus gives us the choice to obey him or not. He does not want us to obey him because we are afraid of him. He wants us to obey him because we love him.

Verse 16 Jesus’ *disciples made a decision to follow him. But they could make that decision only because he chose them. He has chosen us, too. If he had not chosen us first, we could not choose to follow him.

He has chosen us to work for him. He has chosen us to bring *glory to God by what we do. God’s Son has chosen each one of us to achieve good things for him. We are important to him.

Verse 17 Sometimes, people hate us just because we are *Christians. They may insult us because of our *faith in Jesus. It is very important that *Christians encourage each other. We must love each other at all times. Even if we do not always agree, we must always love each other. Jesus warns that people will hate his *followers 15:18-27 v18 ‘The people in this world will hate you. When this happens, remember my words! They hated me before they hated you. v19 If you belonged to this world, then its people would love you. But you do not belong to this world. I chose you to leave the things of this world. That is why the people in this world will hate you. v20 Remember what I said to you before. I said, “A slave is not greater than his master.” They *persecuted me. So they will *persecute you, too. If they obeyed me, they would listen to you, too.

v21 They will do all these things to you because you belong to me. And they do not know the *Father, who sent me. v22 I came and I spoke to them. If I had not come, then they would not be guilty of *sin. But now they do not have an excuse for their *sin. v23 If anybody hates me, then they hate my *Father, too. v24 I did *miracles when I was among them. I did things that nobody else can do! If they had not seen me do such *miracles, they would not be guilty of *sin.

But they saw me do these *miracles. And still they hated both me and my *Father. v25 Their *scriptures say, “People hated me for no reason” (Psalms 35:19; Psalms 69:4). These words have become true. v26 I will send the helper to you from the *Father. This helper is the *Holy Spirit, who comes from the *Father. The *Spirit shows what is true. He will tell you about me. v27 And you must also tell people about me, because you have been with me from the beginning.’

Verses 18-25 ‘The people in this world’ refers to everybody who *rejects God (see also John 14:17). Before a person becomes a *Christian, that person is ‘in this world’. And the evil things in this world control that person’s behaviour. It is as if that person belongs to this world. But when a person becomes a *Christian, that person does not still belong to this world. Instead, such people belong to God’s *kingdom. They live in this world still, but they belong to Jesus.

People *rejected Jesus. They refused to *believe in him. And they refused to believe his message about *salvation. Moreover, they hated him. So they also hated everyone who followed him. People *reject Jesus still. He never hurt anybody. In fact, he never did anything wrong. But still many people hate him, although they have no proper reason. Therefore, they will hate us, just because we follow Jesus. People did not obey Jesus’ words. So they did not listen to what the *disciples said about Jesus. People still do not obey Jesus’ words. So such people are not likely to listen to us when we talk about Jesus.

In some countries, people *persecute *Christians. They may put *Christians into prison. They may hurt *Christians. Or they may even kill *Christians. The only reason for this evil behaviour is that *Christians *believe in Jesus.

People who do not *believe in Jesus also do not know God. God sent Jesus, his Son, to *save us. When a person *rejects Jesus, they are *rejecting also God, his *Father. They may believe in a god who is not Jesus’ *Father. But this god is not the genuine God. Therefore they do not know the only real God.

Many people saw Jesus do *miracles. Some of the *Jewish leaders saw Jesus do *miracles. Nobody denied that the *miracles had happened. That was not possible because so many people had seen them. But the *Jewish leaders did not believe that Jesus’ power came from God. So they hated him. That was why they were guilty of *sin. The words from these Psalms were a *prophecy that was happening. It is still happening. There are still people today who hate Jesus without a real reason.

Verses 26-27 Jesus warned his *disciples that people would hate them. But he did not leave them without hope. He gave a wonderful promise to them. He promised that the *Holy Spirit would come. The *Father would send the *Holy Spirit to them. The *Holy Spirit would show them all that was true about Jesus. Then, the *disciples could tell other people all about Jesus, too.

This promise is true for us, too. We can ask God to give us the *Holy Spirit. The *Holy Spirit will help us to understand who Jesus really is. The *Holy Spirit will help us to study the Bible. He will help us to pray.

© 2006, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

November 2006

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