Frameworks:
John's Gospel, chapter 15
(The
objective of these ‘Frameworks' is to provide an easy-to-read
layout of the text in order then to use these individual verses
for verse-by-verse study or meditation. To focus each
verse we have also added in italic a description of what is happening)
CHAPTER
15
v.1-17
The Vine and the Branches
v.18-
25 The World Hates the Disciples
v.26,27
The Work of the Holy Spirit
v.1-17
The Vine and the Branches
v.1
(Jesus' declaration) “I
am the true vine, and my Father
is the gardener.
v.2
(God cuts off barren branches and prunes good ones)
He cuts off every branch in me that
bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes
so that it will be even more fruitful.
v.3
(God's word cleanses) You
are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
v.4
(remain or abide in me otherwise you can't bear
fruit) Remain in me, as I also
remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain
in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
v.5
(if I am the vine you are my branches – to bear
fruit) “I am the vine;
you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will
bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
v.6
(those who don't remain in me get cut off)
If you do not remain in me, you are
like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are
picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
v.7
(be one with me and ask whatever you will)
If you remain in me and my words
remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for
you.
v.8
(fruit-bearing glorifies my Father) This
is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves
to be my disciples.
v.9
(He loves me, I have loved you so live in that love)
“As the Father has loved me, so have
I loved you. Now remain in my love.
v.10
(obey me and you'll remain in my love) If
you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have
kept my Father's commands and remain in his love.
v.11
( I've said this so you joy will be full) I
have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your
joy may be complete.
v.12
(the prime command again) My
command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
v.13
(greatest love is sacrificial) Greater
love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.
v.14
(if you obey you're my friends) You
are my friends if you do what I command.
v.
15 (no longer just servants but
friends) I no longer call you
servants, because a servant does not know his master's business.
Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned
from my Father I have made known to you.
v.16
(I chose you to be fruit bearing) You
did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you
might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever
you ask in my name the Father will give you.
v.17
(so do it – love one another) This
is my command: Love each other.
v.18-
25 The World Hates the Disciples
v.18
(if you are hated, remember me) “If
the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
v.19
(they hate you because you're different) If
you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it
is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out
of the world. That is why the world hates you.
v.20
(as they persecute me so they'll persecute you)
Remember what I told you: ‘A servant
is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will
persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey
yours also.
v.21
(they'll do this because they're godless) They
will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know
the one who sent me.
v.22
(if they hadn't heard they would have an excuse
- but they don't) If I had not
come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but
now they have no excuse for their sin.
v.23
(hate me and you hate God) Whoever
hates me hates my Father as well.
v.24
(if I had done nothing they might be excused – but
they're not) If I had not done
among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty
of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both
me and my Father.
v.25
(this fulfils prophecy) But
this is to fulfil what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me
without reason.' [Psa 35:19; 69:4]
v.26,27
The Work of the Holy Spirit
v.26
(when the Spirit comes He will testify to me)
“When the Advocate comes, whom I
will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes
out from the Father—he will testify about me.
v.27
(and you must testify too) And
you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.