John 15
LipscombJohn 15:1
I am the true vine,—Jesus often illustrated spiritual relations and things by natural ones. As they walked it is probable that they passed a vine with its spreading branches growing out of the vine. The intimate union existing between the vine and its branches suggested to his mind the intimate relations between himself and his disciples. Jesus with the twelve apostles as the teachers of the truths of the Bible constitute the vine.
‘and my Father is the husbandman.—His Father as the husbandman dresses, trims, and keeps the vine and its branches.
John 15:2
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away:—The language was spoken directly to the apostles and in a special manner illustrated his and their relationship to each other. The disciples grew out of him. are dependent upon him for life and strength, development and growth. He is the source of life and growth to them, and if they fail to receive life and growth from him and to bear worthy fruit, the Father as the vinedresser takes away the barren branch. [There is no such thing as “turning one out of the church” nor “joining the church” in the New Testament. We can neither vote him in nor out of the church. He obeys the gospel and the Lord adds him to the church (Acts 2:47), and if he fails to bear spiritual fruit the Lord will pluck him out. This he will do in the end of this world. (Matthew 13:40-47). We may withdraw fellowship from one (2 Thessalonians 3:6), but this does not put him out of the church.]
and every branch that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit.—The twelve apostles were the branches. Judas had ceased to bear fruit. He had him taken away. The other of the twelve were chastened and purified by the trials through which they passed at the time of the death of Jesus, and they were better fitted for the reception of the Holy Spirit, and so for bearing better and more fruit unto the Lord. [What we exist for as Christians is spiritual fruit; without it we are spiritual failures.]
John 15:3
Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you.—The disciples were cleansed and prepared through the word that Jesus had spoken to them. They were brought to believe and obey this word, and through obedience they were made clean and holy. [The teaching of Jesus and their associating with him had placed them as branches. They belonged to the fruit bearers, and they had been partially pruned. But Jesus well knew that they would need much additional pruning to load them with the glorious clusters of richest fruit which they were one day to bear. We should not overlook the fact that the fruit grows on the branches, not on the vine.]
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.—There was the same mutual dependence between Jesus and his apostles that exists between the vine and the branches. The branches can live only through the life they draw from the vine, so the disciples of Christ can live only through their union with him and the life they draw from him. So, too, the vine produces its fruit through the branches. Jesus would exert his influence to do good through the apostles. He teaches the world through them.
A higher glory was to come to Jesus when he ascended to his Father and the apostles endued with the Spirit preached the gospel. [The prime necessity of the branch is to remain attached to the vine. But there can be no abiding in the spiritual vine except by a continued attention to the word of Christ. That which grafts us in continues us there. This being true of us, the abiding in him necessarily involves his abiding in us through his word. The moment a branch is cut or torn from the vine the conditions of life have ceased. There can be no more production of fruit.
For a few hours there may be a semblance of life, but it is soon gone. The theme here formulated is not that of the moral powerlessness of the natural man for any good; it is that of the unfruitfulness of the believer left to his own strength, when the question is of producing or advancing the spiritual life, the life of God, in himself or others.]
John 15:5
I am the vine, ye are the branches:—[The only “branches” recognized in the word of God are individual Christians. “Branch churches are denominational organizations” presents a thought utterly foreign to the New Testament. Every Christian is a branch of the vine. His life is drawn from the vine. No denominationalism is warranted here.]
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit:—[It is absolutely impossible for the Christian who is in vital union with Christ to be fruitless. The life within him will force itself out in holy words and actions. There is no such thing as a do-nothing real Christian. Not only fruit, but much fruit and good fruit.]
for apart from me ye can do nothing.—The disciples apart from Jesus were as lifeless and unable to bear fruit as the branches separated from the vine. [Here is the explanation of so much of the inefficiency of the church today. Men and women are not living in vital union with Christ. They go where Christ cannot go with them. They do what Christ cannot see with allowance, and say what he ought not to hear. They drive him away from them. Therefore there are no spiritual fruits.]
John 15:6
If a man abide not in me,—This expression—“a man"—is a statement of a general truth. It applies to any and all men. A person must be in Christ before he can be or abide in him. [A Christian neglecting the means of grace.]
he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered;—If he abides not in him he loses his life, withers, and dies, is unworthy of Christ, or of any good and is fit only for destruction. [This is true whether what is called “church action” is taken or not. We can see such branches all around us. But well may we tremble as we read the next words. They are words of doom, but they cannot be set aside.]
and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.—This indicates the manner of their destruction. [“The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them in the furnace of fire: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:41-42).]
John 15:7
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,—To be in Christ, he must be in us. If he is in us, his words must abide in us. None can enter Christ save through his teachings, or receiving, believing and obeying his word. So if we abide in Christ, his word must be in and abide with us and mold our thoughts and feelings, and control our lives, and form our characters.
ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.—If his words abide in us, we will ask according to his will, and he will grant what we ask. [We do not understand this sentence to apply to prayer in general, as though anything we might ask for would be granted, but to pray for spiritual strength and blessing, pray with the view of bearing spiritual fruit. The next verse shows this. A prevailing prayer must be in the name of Christ (John 1:13) ; according to his will (1 John 5:14); in faith (James 1:6); followed by obedience to his commandments (1 John 3:22; James 4:3).]
John 15:8
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit;—God is glorified by his servants doing his will, keeping his words, and so bringing themselves fully under his guidance. [There are therefore the most cogent reasons why he should grant such a prayer. Temporal blessings given to us might not inure to his glory, but quite to the contrary, but spiritual strength must always promote the glory of God. Bearing much fruit is the test of true discipleship.]
and so shall ye be my disciples.—In this course we bear much fruit unto him. and so become more and more the disciples of Jesus who came to do his Father’s will.
John 15:9
Even as the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you:—The love that God bestowed on Jesus, Jesus bestowed upon his disciples.
abide ye in my love.—They continued in his love by continuing to do his will. [By natural transition he now passes from the manifestations of spiritual life to the cardinal principle thereof, that is, love. If we may be allowed the expression, this is the divine sap which runs from the vine through the branches, and from the branches back through the vine, keeping up the divine circulation which is essential to divine life. But how shall we abide in his love?]
John 15:10
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love;—God is the Ruler of the universe. Everything in the universe continues in harmony with God by complying with the laws God gives to govern the universe. Everything in harmony with God and so with the laws of the universe will receive God through the workings of the laws of the universe. Everything not in harmony with the laws of the universe must be brought to ruin by the workings of the laws God has given to control the universe. [How different is Christ’s teaching all through this evening from the vague rhapsodies of many so-called spiritual lights of today! How intensely practical! “Keep my commandments” is the ever-recurring refrain of this divine music. It is the product, but it is also the condition of spiritual life.]
even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.—Jesus was the most highly blessed and honored of all the spirits in the universe, because he more than any other being kept the laws of God. Jesus showed his love for the Father and remained in that love by keeping his commandments, so we can show our love to Jesus by keeping his commandments. This is the rule by which God tested his Son, and all his disciples are tested by the same rule. It is vain, a mockery of God, to claim to be his disciple, or to believe in him, while we refuse to keep his commandments. [Jesus has thus reached the climax of his exhortation, and now presents the blessed result of heeding it.]
John 15:11
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you,—Jesus spoke these things to them before he left them, that the joy that he possessed in keeping his Father’s commandments might remain with them. Jesus possessed a joy and a peace that no sufferings or evil surroundings, not even the sufferings of the cross could disturb. Paul, in speaking of the sufferings of Jesus, says; “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2). [Thoughtfully he thinks back over the address and states why it was delivered. The exquisite joy that he feels in the consciousness of obedience to his Father, and the Father’s approving love on account of that obedience produced that joy.]
and that your joy may be made full.—Jesus wished that they might be filled with the same joy and comfort to bear them up in the distress that would come upon them in his death and the persecutions that would come upon them for his sake. [That a corresponding joy on their part may be made complete in their consciousness that they are sincerely and constantly endeavoring to do his will.]
John 15:12
This is my commandment, that ye love one another,—Jesus had so loved them that he gave up heaven for a time, took upon himself the nature and sufferings of the world, and the death of the cross for them. [Not my only commandment, but my great commandment. He had said to the lawyer in regard to the Mosaic law that its very essence was to love God and love your neighbor.]
even as I have loved you.—While they would not equal him in the strength of his love, they must cultivate the same love one for another, and be willing to deny self and suffer one for another. [Not only as certainly as I have loved you, but as intensely as I have loved you.]
John 15:13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.—The strongest love for one’s friends is that he would lay down his life for them. Jesus was about to lay down his life for them. [This is the very acme of self-sacrificing love as between friends. Damon and Pythias have become immortal on its account. This was precisely what Jesus was about to do for his friends and which he did do the next day. But, more astounding still, for his enemies, though that is not introduced here. As the greater includes the less, this new exhortation of verse 12 includes all the offices that love can render and, we can readily understand, would transform the earth.]
John 15:14
Ye are my friends,—That they might know whether they came within the bounds of his love, he tells them who are his friends.
if ye do the things which I command you.—Jesus loved the whole world and shed his blood for it, but only they who accepted the benefits of his death by doing his will appropriated that love and received the benefits from it. Those who obeyed were his friends and so only his friends received and appropriated the benefits of his love. While he loved his enemies and provided for their happiness, they could enjoy it only by keeping his commandments. [Again he brings out the oft-repeated divinely appointed test of relationship to Christ—obedience to his command. We ought not to overlook this constantly repeated lesson.]
John 15:15
No longer do I call you servants;—The people of God under the Jewish dispensation had been servants. Only Abraham through faith had become a friend of God. But Jesus came to lift them out of their state of servitude and make them, as later revealed, children of God. [Greek, slaves, as in chapters 12:26; 13:13. There is no disagreement here with verse 20, or with the apostles afterwards calling themselves servants. He does not say they are not servants under solemn obligations to serve, but he calls them friends. Just as a master having great confidence in, and intense love for, a slave, might call him friend and treat him as such without for a moment weakening his claim upon him as a slave.]
for the servant—[Treated only as such.]
knoweth not what his lord doeth:—The master does not make known to the servants his plans. He commands what the servant must do.
but I have called you friends;—[I have treated you as friends—given you my confidence.]
for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known unto you.—To a friend he makes known his purposes, plans, and will, and advises with him. Jesus had treated them as friends in making known to them all the will and purposes of his Father. [See Matthew 13:11. Not all absolutely, for there was still a great deal to be learned by them, but all that the most intimate friendship would demand up to that time; all that was proper to be communicated; for even to our friends we do not tell everything at once.]
John 15:16
Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you,—Jesus had chosen the apostles to be his witnesses, and to this end he had made known to them the will of God and commissioned them to teach all things he had taught them. [A wholesome memento after the lofty things he had just said about their mutual indwelling, and the unreservedness of the friendship to which they had been admitted. The initiative of their present relationship was with him. They were still under the highest obligations to him. He had set them apart to the apostolate.]
that ye should go and bear fruit,—[The purpose for which they were set apart. The great object of the apostleship, as of all Christian activity, is to garner fruit for heaven.]
and that your fruit should abide:—His choosing them brought them into a closer relationship to him; he taught them more fully and they were enabled to bear much more fruit as his friends, and in doing his will he again assures them that the Father will hear them.
that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.—[That is, in all that appertains to the accomplishment of the work given into their hands.]
John 15:17
These things I command you, that ye may love one another.—The end of these teachings was that they must love one another, be ready to suffer for the good of each other, and work for each other’s good as brethren.
John 15:18
If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated me before it hated you.—The hatred of the world for Jesus was seen in the treatment the people gave him. They rejected his words, refused to obey him, and persecuted him. If they were true followers, they might expect the same treatment.
John 15:19
If ye were of the world, the world would love its own:—To be of the world was to reject Jesus and his teaching and to cling to the ways of the world. Jesus chose them, not to take them out of the material world, but that, while in the world, they might not follow the ways of the world, but his teachings, which are out of harmony with the world. The world seeks happiness and good in the world by gratifying the desires, lusts, and ambitions of the flesh. Jesus so directs his disciples that they find good and happiness in denying self and seeking the good of others. Find good in doing good to others and find happiness in making others happy is the essence of the teaching of Jesus.
but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.—This principle condemns the world and the world opposes those who practice this divine principle. The end of God’s training of man is to make man like God—like him in thought, purpose, and character. Man needs to be assimilated to God in character that he may be fitted to live with him and find pleasure with God and in his companionship. Man cannot enjoy the presence of God and his angel hosts unless he is educated and trained in character to dwell with them. The wicked, transported to heaven in their wickedness, with their wicked spirit, would be out of harmony and sympathy with God, Christ, and all the associations of heaven, and would find no joy or peace in heaven.
John 15:20
Remember the word that I said unto you, A servant is not greater than his lord.—The servant need not expect better treatment than the Master received. Those who persecuted him will persecute his disciples. Those who kept the word of Jesus will keep the words of his apostles.
If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.—[Those who would persecute the Lord will persecute his followers also. Those who would receive the Lord’s words will also receive and keep their words. Some will persecute; others will accept the gospel. Christians must expect both results, persecution and glad reception, and be not disappointed in the persecution. This has been true since apostolic days. (Acts 13:42-45).]
John 15:21
But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake,—All the opposition of the world and the persecution of the servants will be done because of their fidelity to the teachings of Jesus.
because they know not him that sent me.—The rejection of Jesus arose from their not knowing God who sent him. These Jews now trying to destroy Jesus claimed to know and worship God, but Jesus says they did it because they really did not know God who sent Jesus.
John 15:22
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin:—[Here are three principles involved: (1) The degree of sin is determined by the measure of our opportunities. They who are in darkness cannot be blamed for not seeing unless they are responsible for being in the darkness. Those who have had no light from heaven will be lightly judged for breaking laws for which they could have no knowledge. (2) Increased opportunities bring the consciousness of sin. A ray from the noonday sun in the parlor reveals, but does not create, the cobweb. It was there before. So, too, the motions of sin in the soul are imperfectly recognized until the spiritual light shines in, but in that light sin is seen to be sin, and the conscience is alive to it. “Apart from the law sin is dead.
And I was alive apart from the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” (Romans 7:8-9). So the knowledge of Christ, filling the soul with light, brings sin into full view and takes away all excuse for continuance therein. (3) The sin of all sins is the rejection of Christ. He who refuses him deliberately chooses sin. He not only willfully retains all past sins, but he adds to them the sin of rejecting Christ’s offer of mercy as embodied in the gospel.]
but now they have no excuse for their sin.—[There is no excuse for it, no shelter, no covering, nothing that can extenuate sin. Ignorance might be an excuse, but when the offer of pardon is made and refused, ignorance cannot be pleaded. Christ’s offer takes away every excuse and leaves the sinner at the judgment day to the sentence of condemnation.] It is frequently said that all were sinners and Jesus came to redeem them from sin. The language here must mean: If Jesus had not come as a messenger from God and spoken the words to them, they would not have been guilty of the sin of rejecting the one sent of God. But since he came and did these works of God, there is no cloak with which to hide themselves.
John 15:23
He that hateth me hateth my Father also.—Love and hate in the Bible are practical words, and mean to do good or evil. To hate means to reject or oppose. And he who rejects or opposes Jesus does the same to his Father. They are one. Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus. The only way of approach to the Father is through the Son.
John 15:24
If I had not done among them the works which none other did, they had not had sin:—Jesus had done among them works of a character impossible to be done by man. These works showed that God was with him. If he had not done these works they would not have been guilty of the sin of rejecting Christ—the greatest sin of all sins.
but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.—These works which showed God’s presence having been performed before their eyes, there was no excuse for their sins. They were the greater sinners for rejecting these works. Their rejecting him while the Father was working through him manifested their hatred of both him and his Father. To reject Jesus as the Christ is the greatest hatred of sin.
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.—This is quoted from Psalms 35:19. This condition of things showed that the scripture was true which foretold that “They hated me without a cause.” (Psalms 35:19).
John 15:26
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,—Jesus had said, “If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever.” (John 14:15-16). “Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto you.” (John 16:7). The meaning of all the teachings of the fourteenth to the sixteenth chapters is that Jesus was about to leave his disciples here in this world. It distressed their hearts and this promise of another heavenly Guest, another divine Person, another representative of the Godhead to dwell with, instruct, go with, and comfort them in their sorrow over the departure of Christ is promised them. He gives the qualities of the Spirit. He will comfort for the absence of the Son; he is a Spirit that brings truth, lives truth, and dwells in truth, never in a falsehood.
even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me:—He comes from God. Has received the truth from God in heaven, brings that truth to earth, makes it known to man, and will testify of the truth concerning Jesus, and his mission and his home with his Father.
John 15:27
and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.—These disciples that now were so disheartened and disconsolate over his leaving them, in the days when the Holy Spirit should come to bear witness of him, would with gladness and joy join with the Spirit in bearing witness to the world of him and his works. Here the specific work of the Holy Spirit is said to bear witness of Jesus, and this witness of the Spirit is in and through the witness of the apostles themselves.