Publication by the successors of A.P. Lopukhin. Explanatory Bible. Interpretation of the Gospel of John
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Chapter 15
1–27. Continuation of Christ's farewell conversation with his disciples: the relationship between Christ and His disciples, the attitude of the disciples to each other and to the world.
Chapter 15 contains Christ's second consolatory speech to the disciples, ending in chapter 16 with verse 11. Here the Lord first (verses 1–17) instills in the disciples the idea of the need to maintain constant life communication with Christ and among themselves. Only under this condition can they fulfill their purpose in the world. Then (verses 18-27) the Lord calls the disciples to patiently endure the persecutions that the Christ-hating world will bring against them.
1. I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
“I am the true vine...” Christ’s speech about Himself as a vine is the same allegory as His speech about Himself as the door to the sheepfold and the good shepherd (John 10 :1-10). Similar allegories, which have as their content the idea of the development of the Kingdom of God on earth and depict this Kingdom under the guise of a vineyard or grapevine, are also found in the Old Testament (Isa. 5 :1-7; Jer. 2:21 ; Ezek. 15 :1-6 and etc.). But it is very likely that Christ, offering his disciples such an allegory about the vine, had in mind not only these Old Testament parallels, but also the just ended Last Supper, at which He drank wine with His disciples and, under the guise of wine, taught them His own Blood . It is remarkable that in the sacramental prayer preserved in the “Teaching of the 12 Apostles” (Didache XII apostolorum: La Didache. Instructions des Apötres, ed. JP Audet. Paris, 1958, p. IX, 2), there is the expression “holy Vine of David "(ἡ ἁγιά ἄμπελος Δαυίδ), referring to Christ.
Why does Christ call Himself the “true” vine? Aren't ordinary vines true? 3 here the adjective “true” (ἀληθινός) undoubtedly means “belonging to the upper world, but acting in this world among people like a vine subject to the law of organic life” (Goltsman). The Lord wants to say by this that His attitude towards people can best be compared (“true”) with the attitude of the trunk of a grapevine to its branches.
“My Father is a vinedresser” (ὁ γεωργός); he planted the true vine - Christ, sending Him into the world.
2. Every branch of Me that does not bear fruit He cuts off; and every one that bears fruit he cleanses, that it may bear more fruit.
The branches of the vine - Christ - are all believers or those who have converted to the Christian faith (the Lord here turns His gaze to the distant future). Among Christians there will be many who will be Christians only in name, but inwardly will be far from Christ. God cuts such people off from fellowship with Christ. This cutting off occurs at first invisibly, and then it will take place at the terrible final judgment. On the contrary, God “cleanses” good branches, removing from them everything that spoils the purity and taste of the wine produced from the vines - this is the so-called. watery branches. In relation to true Christians, who should bear only the fruits of virtue, God acts in the same way. He cleanses, of course, through difficult trials (1 Pet. 1 :6-7) them from everything that prevents them from following the path of spiritual self-improvement.
3. You have already been purified through the word that I preached to you.
The apostles have already been purified “through the word” of Christ (cf. John 13 :8-11), that is, through the teaching of Christ, which they accepted with faith (cf. Acts 15 :9). This gives them the strength to repel the influences of the sinful world that are harmful to their spiritual body.
4. Abide in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it is in the vine, so neither can you unless you are in Me. 5. I am the vine, and you are the branches; He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
The apostles must maintain this purity and abide only in Christ as the true noble vine. If they think that they can do anything without receiving life-giving juices from this vine, then they are mistaken: they will not do anything good without Christ.
6. Whoever does not abide in Me will be cast out like a branch and wither; and such branches are collected and thrown into the fire, and they burn.
Here is indicated how winegrowers usually deal with dried branches. This is what will be done at the Last Judgment with apostates from Christ (cf. Matt. 13:30, 40–41).
But how can we reconcile with the phenomenon of falling away from Christ, which seems possible here, what the Lord said earlier (John 6:39 et seq.; John 10 :28–29) about the security promised to those who believed in Him? Now He claims that the Father wants the Son not to lose anyone, now He speaks of those falling away from Him and perishing. This question is easily resolved if we remember that John considers those who fall away from Christ to be His untrue followers. “They went out from us, but they were not ours,” says John about the opponents of Christianity, former Christians (1 John 2:19 ).
7. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
The Lord just spoke about the need for the apostles to abide in Christ. Now He points out the benefit that they will receive from this: their prayers will be heard (cf. John 14 :13-14). The Lord says this, of course, meaning that the person abiding in Him will pray for what Christ desires for people.
8. By this will My Father be glorified, if you bear much fruit and become My disciples.
To encourage the disciples to do good deeds (“fruit”), Christ tells them that through this they will glorify His Father and become disciples of Christ in the full sense. Obviously, Christ knows that this motive seems very strong to the disciples, that they want to glorify God and be not in name, but in fact, disciples of Christ.
9. As the Father has loved Me, I have loved you; abide in My love. 10. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
Just as the Father loves Christ because He does His will, so the disciples can retain the love of Christ for themselves by doing His will as expressed in His commandments.
11. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
Everything that Christ said above (verses 1–10) was said with the purpose that the apostles could assimilate to themselves the “joy of Christ” - that joy that He always has in Himself, even in the present dying hour. This joy, of course, stems from His awareness of His oneness with God. And the apostles will have “perfect” or complete joy when they remain in fellowship with Christ.
12. This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. 13. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
The apostles must maintain a fellowship of love among themselves. They must love each other as Christ loved them (see comments on John 13:34 ), and consider self-sacrifice for their brothers to be the highest manifestation of this love (cf. John 10:11 ). The Lord is speaking here only about self-sacrifice for friends, and not for all people (which He showed Himself; cf. Rom. 5 :6, 8, 10). This limitation on the scope of self-sacrifice is explained by the fact that the Lord pitied His disciples, who were embarrassed by the impending separation from Him, and did not want to make demands on them at that time that were too difficult for them. Over time, the disciples themselves, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, will understand the full power of the commandment previously offered to them from Christ about love for enemies (Matthew 5:44 ).
14. You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15. I no longer call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have told you everything that I have heard from My Father. 16. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you. 17. This I command you, that you love one another.
To encourage the disciples to fulfill His commandments, Christ says that by fulfilling these commandments, the apostles will not be like slaves to whom their master gives various orders, but, on the contrary, they will show themselves to be “friends” of Christ. There is a big difference in the feeling with which the task entrusted to us is carried out. We can look at it only as a duty and therefore perform it without passion, or we can do it out of love for the one who entrusted us with this task. It is clear that in the latter case this matter will be done much better than in the first. The disciples must fulfill the commandments of Christ as His friends.
“I no longer call you slaves.” The Lord called the disciples this way before (John 13:16 ), but He calls them below by the same name (verse 20), so how does He say that He no longer calls them? There is no doubt that here the expression “to call” should be understood not in the literal sense of the word, but figuratively. The Lord may call the disciples slaves, but He does not treat them like slaves: He introduces them to an understanding of the entire plan of divine economy, while their master does not reveal his plans to ordinary slaves, forcing them to carry out his orders without any reasoning.
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you.” Here is another motive for the disciples to always fulfill the commandments of Christ, to always serve Him. While it was the custom among the Jews for those who wished to learn the Law of Moses to choose their own rabbinic teachers, the apostles became disciples of Christ only when He Himself chose and called them to Himself. But they entered into a union of friendship with Him, and therefore it is not in their will to dissolve this union (Weiss).
“And he placed you.” This indicates the special hierarchical position of the apostles in the Church (cf. Acts 20:28 ; 1 Cor. 12:28 ).
“So that you may go” - go as My apostles (cf. Matt. 28:19 ) and “bear fruit,” that is, spread the Gospel and firmly establish it on earth (“so that your fruit may remain”).
This is the first purpose of choosing the apostles. Another goal is indicated in the words: “so that you ask nothing...” The Lord, when choosing disciples, wanted to do a lot of good for them, and wanted their prayers to be fulfilled by God.
18. If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before you. 19. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20. Remember the word that I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you too; If they have kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21. But they will do all these things to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.
Turning now to the hatred with which the apostles-elect of Christ will be met in the world, going to fulfill His commands, the Lord consoles them, first of all, with the fact that in this case the apostles will experience from the world the hatred with which the world had previously related to Christ. Secondly (v. 19), this hatred is completely natural, and everything natural and ordinary should not frighten a person. On the contrary, the apostles should still be grateful to this hatred, because its existence clearly indicates that they are on the right path, that they are not infected with the sins of the world: hatred of the Church is, so to speak, a guarantee that the Church stands on the height of her task, which Her Founder set Her. (John’s world is everywhere conceived as being under the power of sin, cf. John. 14:30).
The Lord repeats this thought (vv. 20 and 21), using the same expressions in which He spoke about the fate of the disciples when He sent them for the first time to preach the Gospel (see Matt.10:22–25:28).
“They do not know Him who sent Me.” Here is indicated the reason for the world’s hatred of preachers of the Gospel, who demand from people faith in Christ (for My name’s sake). This reason has been stated before (Jn. 8:19).
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 also hates my Father. 24. If I had not done among them works that no one else had done, they would not have had sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father. 25. But let the word that is written in their law be fulfilled: They have hated Me without cause.
Since the world could use as its justification the ignorance that Christ speaks of here, Christ explains that such self-justification is completely unfounded. This very ignorance is an undoubted sin after Christ taught the Jews and performed His great deeds or miracles before their eyes. No, if they have not taken advantage of these means to acquire true knowledge of God, who sent Christ, then it is clear that they harbor in their hearts hatred not only for Christ, but also for God.
“But let the word be fulfilled...” To the disciples, such unbelief of the world could seem something unexpected for their Teacher Himself. Therefore, the Lord points in this unbelief, in this hatred of Him on the part of the world, to the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The closest the Lord seems to be speaking here is about the words of David contained in Ps. 68 :5. Here David depicts the persecution that befell him from the side of his enemies, but the Lord sees in David His prototype and in the attitude of his enemies towards David - a foreshadowing of the relationship in which the world will become towards the true King of Israel, a descendant of David in the flesh (Psalm 68 therefore usually called messianic-educational). The same thoughts are found in Ps. 34:19 , 118 :161.
The Psalms are called here “law” in a general sense, since in general the entire Holy Scripture was considered by the Jews to be a guiding principle in life. By calling the law “theirs,” that is, Jewish law, the Lord does not want to deny the binding nature of the law for His followers, but only indicates that the Jews too often refer to the law as their sacred property. It is this support of theirs that now speaks against them, convicting them of an unfair attitude towards Christ.
26. When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me; 27. And you also will testify, because you were with Me from the beginning.
This guilt of the world, which has hated Christ, will be testified by the Comforter Spirit and the apostles themselves, who can recall to the world many facts from the activity of Christ, since the apostles were with Christ from the very beginning of His ministry.
“It comes from the Father.” This contains the doctrine of the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father. This is clear from the fact that
1) that here the procession is spoken of as something present and permanent (the verb ἐκπορεύεσθαι is in the present tense), while Christ speaks of the temporary sending of the Spirit into the world as something future (I will send, cf. John.14:16, 26);
2) if we understand the expression “to proceed” in the sense of the future – “will come out”, then this expression will be a completely unnecessary repetition of the first words of verse 26 “will come” and “I will send.”
Western interpreters (Luthard, Gengstenberg, Holtzman, etc.) still insist that here we are talking only about the “temporary” sending of the Spirit by the Father, since, says Holtzman, the point to which the Spirit rushes or descends is Earth. But, most likely, we can say that here the procession of the Spirit is spoken of without reference, the word “proceeds” was added in order to designate the distinctive property of the Spirit in eternity. Otherwise, Christ, in order to avoid any misunderstandings, could have said, if he had meant only the temporary descent of the Spirit from heaven: “We, that is, I and the Father, will send the Spirit.” After all, He summarized His coming and the coming of the Father in a similar way in the expression “We will come to him...” (John. 14:23).
“And you also...” Since, strictly speaking, the testimony of the apostles generally coincides with the testimony of the Holy Spirit acting on them, then here, since their testimony stands out, one must already see an indication of their service as evangelists, i.e., of their transmission stories of the life of Christ, and what mattered most was their power of recollection.
What are fruits?
This includes correct relationships with God and people, and working on oneself, and overcoming difficulties.
“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 gentleness, self-control. There is no law against them." (Gal.5:22,23)
These are certain good deeds that we do for the Church and society
For example, in Titus 3:14 it is written: “Let ours also learn to practice good works, to meet necessary needs, so that we will not be unfruitful.” For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to walk in. ." (Eph.2:10)
This is the fulfillment of our destiny that God gives us
“10 Serve one another, each one with the gift he has received, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the words of God; If anyone serves, let him serve according to the strength that God gives, so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."
In the New Testament, “bearing fruit” usually refers to a Christian being faithful to God and demonstrating in his life the qualities that God desires in a person.
The fruit Jesus is talking about is becoming like Christ. Simply put, bearing fruit means becoming like Christ. And the expression “much fruit” means “ever increasing similarity to Christ.”
This is natural and fruitful for the Kingdom of God
This relates to the salvation of souls and indicates the need of His ministers to teach the people the Gospel.
We must also answer another question: how can we abide “in” Him?
How can this happen in real life, practically?
The word “abide” is one of the key words in John’s theological system; this is Greek. meno; in this chapter alone the apostle uses it 11 times, and in the entire Gospel - 40 times, and, in addition, 27 times in his Epistles. But what does it mean to abide?
1) First of all, it can mean accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior
2) It can then correspond to a strict “abiding”; in His word by reading, listening and trusting it.
“1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, and does not stand in the way of sinners, and does not sit in the seat of the wicked, 2 but his will is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night! 3 And he will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which brings forth its fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither; and in everything he does, he will succeed.” (Ps. 1:1-3)
3) It can further mean: being in a community that recognizes, loves, and honors Jesus as its Lord. A Christian cannot be alone; a shoot of the vine cannot live by itself.
4) And of course - To abide in Him means to constantly maintain contact with Him in prayer.
And only in this way, being grafted into Him and abiding in Him, can we truly bear fruits pleasing to God, thereby glorifying Him and pleasing Him.
Jesus said that trees are known by their fruit (Matthew 7:16-20). What kind of “tree” do you and I show the world with our lives?
