Johnchapter 15
27 verses · John, by tradition · AD 85 to 95 · The Gospels
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard.
Introduction
John, by tradition, The Gospels, John Overview.
The disciple whom Jesus loved set this chapter down, writing for churches that knew both the joy of belonging to Christ and the cost of it. The words were spoken on the night of the betrayal, in the hours between the supper and the garden. Here Jesus teaches by a picture taken from the vineyards of Israel, a plant every hearer had tended or seen. Listen for the one word He repeats more than any other. Listen also for the sharp turn from love to hatred partway through. It is a chapter about staying close to Him, and about the price of doing so.
Context
- Who
- Readers about to be expelled and worse
- What
- The figure of the true vine and its branches, followed by the command to love one another and a warning of the hatred of the world.
- Where
- Jerusalem on the night of the betrayal, between the supper and the crossing of the Kidron Valley, in a place the Gospel leaves unstated.
- When
- The night before the crucifixion, about AD 30 to 33, written down about AD 85 to 95 on the traditional dating.
- Why
- To teach the disciples that their life and fruit depend on remaining in Him, and to prepare them for the hatred their witness would meet.
Historical context
Vine-dressing is the most hands-on farming in that country, and every step in the image is a real one. A vine is pruned hard in late winter, most of last year's growth is cut away, and again in the growing season, when the grower pinches out shoots that would make leaf instead of fruit. The word for cutting away and the word for cleaning are close cousins in Greek, and Jesus plays on it: you are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
Cut branches were burned because vine wood is useless. It is soft, twisted, and too weak for tools or building, so the only thing to do with prunings is fire. Ezekiel had already made that point about Israel.
There was also a vine in plain sight. Josephus describes a great golden vine with clusters the height of a man over the entrance to the temple sanctuary, and the vine was Israel's national emblem, stamped on coins struck during the revolt. Saying I am the true vine on the way past the temple relocated the emblem.
The warnings that follow are specific to what these readers faced: the world will hate you; they will do these things to you on account of my name; remember that a servant is not greater than his master. This is not general encouragement. It is a briefing.
Significance
Abide is the verb of the chapter, and it is not a mystical word, it means stay put. A branch does nothing to produce grapes except remain attached, and apart from me you can do nothing is the plainest statement of that in Scripture.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The relationship is then redefined: no longer servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing, but friends, because everything the Father told him he has made known. For people who had lost their standing everywhere else, being told they were in on the plan was worth a great deal.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
I Am the Vine, Ye Are the Branches
Israel is the vine in Psalm 80:8 and Isaiah 5, planted by God and yielding worthless fruit. Jesus calls Himself the true vine, alethine, the real one that yields what the Father looks for. Keeper of the vineyard is georgos, the vinedresser.
John 15:1
“The spiritual oneness of Christ and His people, and His relation to them as the Source of all their spiritual life and fruitfulness, are here beautifully set forth by a figure familiar to Jewish ears (Isa 5:1, &c.). I am the true vine--of whom the vine of nature is but a shadow. my Father is the husbandman--the great Proprietor of the vineyard, the Lord of the spiritual kingdom.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
John 15:1
“I am the true vine - Some have supposed that this discourse was delivered in the room where the Lord’s Supper was instituted, and that, as they had made use of wine, Jesus took occasion from that to say that he was the true vine, and to intimate that his blood was the real wine that was to give strength to the soul.”
ConnectionsJohn 15:5
every branch in Me that bears no fruit: One hand does both works: airei, He takes the fruitless branch away, and kathairei, He prunes the fruitful one clean. Readers take airei two ways, a branch finally cut off, and a trailing branch lifted off the ground and cleaned. The purpose clause governs, and pruning aims at more fruit.
John 15:2
“The fruitless He "taketh away" (see on Joh 15:6); the fruitful He "purgeth" (cleanseth, pruneth)--stripping it, as the husbandman does, of what is rank (Mr 4:19), "that it may bring forth more fruit"; a process often painful, but no less needful and beneficial than in the natural husbandry.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
John 15:2
“Everyone that beareth fruit, he purifieth - by obeying the truth, 1 Pet. i, 22; and by inward or outward sufferings, Heb. xii, 10, 11. So purity and fruitfulness help each other. That it may bear more fruit - For this is one of the noblest rewards God can bestow on former acts of obedience, to make us yet more holy, and fit for farther and more eminent service.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
You are already clean: Clean here is katharoi, from the same root as the pruning verb of verse 2. The word Jesus has spoken is what makes them clean, and He had already called them clean at 13:10, before the traitor went out. They hold that cleanness now.
John 15:3
The world, that is, life enslaved by the affections of the flesh, can no more receive the grace of the Spirit than a weak eye the light of a sunbeam. But the Lord, who by his teaching bore witness to purity of life, gives to his disciples the power of now both beholding and contemplating the Spirit. For "now," he says, "you are clean through the word that I have spoken to you," wherefore "the world cannot receive him, because it does not see him … but you know him. For he dwells with you."
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · On the Holy Spirit 22.53patristic
3 more voices on this verse
John 15:3
“Ye are clean - All of you, to whom I now speak, are purged from the guilt and power of sin; by the word - Which, applied by the Spirit, is the grand instrument of purifying the soul.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
John 15:3
“Now ye are clean - Still keeping up the figure καθαροί katharoi. It does not mean that they were perfect, but that they had been under a process of purifying by his instructions all the time he had been with them.”
John 15:3
“The word of Christ is a distinguishing word, and separates between the precious and the vile; it will purify the church of the first-born in the great dividing day. [2.] They were each of them clean, that is, sanctified, by the truth of Christ ( ch. xvii. 17 ); that faith by which they received the word of Christ purified their hearts, Acts xv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John 15:4-5
Remain in Me, and I will remain in you: Remain translates meno, the word that carries this whole chapter. A branch cut from the vine bears nothing, and the same holds for the disciples, since apart from Him they can do nothing. The life in the branch is the vine's life running through it.
John 15:4
“Abide in me, and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, &c.--As all spiritual fruitfulness had been ascribed to the mutual inhabitation, and living, active interpenetration (so to speak) of Christ and His disciples, so here the keeping up of this vital connection is made essential to continued fruitfulness.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
John 15:4
“Abide in me, and I in you,.... The former of these is an exhortation to continue in the exercise of faith and love upon Christ, holding to him the head, cleaving to him with full purpose of heart, and so deriving life, grace, strength, and nourishment from him; the latter is a promise encouraging to the former; for as Christ is formed in the hearts of his people, he continues there as the living principle of all grace.”
John 15:4
“Those that are come to Christ must abide in him: " Abide in me, by faith; and I in you, by my Spirit; abide in me, and then fear not but I will abide in you; " for the communion between Christ and believers never fails on his side. We must abide in Christ's word by a regard to it, and it in us as a light to our feet.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
I am the vine and you are the branches: Jesus now names both halves of the figure and promises much fruit to the one who remains. Apart from Him the branch can do nothing, neither begin a good work nor finish one. Each branch here is or was joined to Him by faith.
John 15:5
“In further explaining the meaning of this passage, let me remark that Christ did not say "Without Me you can perfect nothing," but, "Without Me you can donothing." The Pelagian might perhaps admit that the Christian could not complete the good work unaided, but then he might do much towards it. Says he, "If he does not finish, he may begin; if he is not the Omega, he may at least be the Alpha.”
1 more voice on this verse
John 15:5
“I am the vine, ye are the branches - Our Lord in this whole passage speaks of no branches but such as are, or at least were once, united to him by living faith.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
ConnectionsGalatians 5:22
a branch that is thrown away and withers: The branch that fails to remain is thrown out, dried up, gathered and burned. Readers take the fire two ways, a branch that only professed and is now removed, and a believer disciplined by real loss. Vinedressers burned their prunings in the ordinary way.
John 15:6
“If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch . . . withered . . . cast into the fire . . . burned--The one proper use of the vine is to bear fruit; failing this, it is good for one other thing--fuel. How awfully striking the figure, in this view of it!”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
John 15:6
“If any one abide not in me - By living faith; not by Church communion only. He may thus abide in Christ, and be withered all the time, and cast into the fire at last. He is cast out - Of the vineyard, the invisible Church.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
John 15:6
“This is a description of the fearful state of hypocrites that are not in Christ, and of apostates that abide not in Christ. [1.] They are cast forth as dry and withered branches, which are plucked off because they cumber the tree. It is just that those should have no benefit by Christ who think they have no need of him; and that those who reject him should be rejected by him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John 15:7-8
If you remain in Me and My words remain in you: The promise of asking whatever you wish sits inside its own condition, His words remaining in the one who asks. A will shaped by those words asks for what He wants. Verse 8 names much fruit as the Father's glory and the mark of a disciple.
John 15:7
“My words - My doctrine; my commandments. Abide in you - Not only are remembered, but are suffered to remain in you as a living principle, to regulate your affections and life. Ye shall ask ... - See Joh 14:13. This promise had particular reference to the apostles. It is applicable to other Christians only so far as they are in circumstances similar to the apostles, and only so far as they possess their spirit.”
1 more voice on this verse
John 15:7
“Note, Those that abide in Christ as their heart's delight shall have, through Christ, their heart's desire. If we have Christ, we shall want nothing that is good for us. Two things are implied in this promise:-- First, That if we abide in Christ, and his word in us, we shall not ask any thing but what is proper to be done for us.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
This is to My Father’s glory: A vinedresser is honoured by vines heavy with fruit, and the Father is glorified the same way. The fruit meant is doctrine, grace and good works. Bearing it proves the disciples worthy of the name.
John 15:8
“Herein is my Father glorified,.... This does not so much refer to what goes before, concerning the disciples abiding in Christ, and he and his words abiding in them, and doing for them whatever they ask, though by all this God is glorified; as to what follows, the fruitfulness of the disciples: that ye bear much fruit; of doctrine, grace, and good works, which show them to be trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and the work of his hands; wherein the glory of his power, grace, and mercy, is greatly displayed.”
2 more voices on this verse
John 15:8
“He says that God His Father has been glorified, being justly admired for His incomparable goodness and crowning as it were His exceeding kindness with actual proof. For He so loved the world according to the Scripture, that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life. The life of all, that of course which is fulfilled by Christ, is then the fruit of the kindness of God the Father.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 10patristic
John 15:8
“The fruitfulness of all Christians, in a lower or narrower sphere, is to the glory of God. By the eminent good works of Christians many are brought to glorify our Father who is in heaven. [2.] So shall we be Christ's disciples indeed, approving ourselves so, and making it to appear that we are really what we call ourselves.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John 15:9-10
As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you: The love runs in one line, from the Father to the Son and from the Son to the disciples. Keeping His commandments is how they stay in it, on the pattern of the Son keeping His Father's commandments. Remain here is meno again.
John 15:9
“As the Father hath loved me - The love of the Father toward his only-begotten Son is the highest affection of which we can conceive. Compare Mat 3:17; Mat 17:5. It is the love of God toward his coequal Son. who is like him in all things, who always pleased him, and who was willing to endure the greatest sacrifices and toils to accomplish his purpose of mercy. Yet this love is adduced to illustrate the tender affection which the Lord Jesus has for all his friends.”
1 more voice on this verse
John 15:9
“He loved him as Mediator: This is my beloved Son. He was the Son of his love. He loved him, and gave all things into his hand; and yet so loved the world as to deliver him up for us all.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
If you keep My commandments, you will remain: The comparison with the Son's obedience is spoken in human terms for the hearers' sake, for the Lawgiver stands under no commandment. The love He remains in is the Father's love for Him, the same love named in verse 9. Pardoning love is kept by continuing in obedience.
John 15:10
“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love--the obedient spirit of true discipleship cherishing and attracting the continuance and increase of Christ's love; and this, He adds, was the secret even of His own abiding in His Father's love!”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
John 15:10
“If ye keep my commandments, etc. - Hence we learn that it is impossible to retain a sense of God’s pardoning love, without continuing in the obedience of faith.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
My joy may be in you: Hours from the cross Jesus told them these things so that His own joy would be in them. Complete translates pepleromene, a joy filled up to the full. The joy the disciples hold is His joy, carried in the words He spoke.
John 15:11
“Here it is as though when Jesus says, "All this I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you," he's saying that those things which encourage me may give you encouragement as well. You can face danger bravely, fortifying yourselves with the hope of those who will be saved. And, if suffering comes upon you in this work, don't be brought down into the feebleness of apathy, but rejoice more abundantly when you fulfill the will of him that wills that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 10patristic
2 more voices on this verse
John 15:11
“These things - The discourse in this and the previous chapter. This discourse was designed to comfort them by the promise of the Holy Spirit and of eternal life, and to direct them in the discharge of their duty. My joy - This expression probably denotes the happiness which Jesus had, and would continue to have, by their obedience, love, and fidelity. Their obedience was to him a source of joy. It was that which he sought and for which he had labored.”
John 15:11
“If they bring forth much fruit, and continue in his love, he will continue to rejoice in them as he had done. Note, Fruitful and faithful disciples are the joy of the Lord Jesus; he rests in his love to them, Zeph. iii. As there is a transport of joy in heaven in the conversion of sinners, so there is a remaining joy in the perseverance of saints.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Greater Love Hath No Man: Friends, Not Servants
John 15:12-13
This is My commandment: The commandment of 13:34 is repeated at the middle of the discourse, with His own love as the measure. Greater love is named as laying down a life for friends. Jesus does it within a day, so the command and the deed stand one night apart.
John 15:12
“This is my commandment, that ye love one another,.... Christ had been before speaking of his commandments; and he mentions this as the principal one, and to which all the rest may be reduced; for as the precepts of the second table of the moral law may be briefly comprehended in this one duty, love to our neighbour, so all the duties of Christianity, relative to one another, are reducible to this, by love to serve each other.”
2 more voices on this verse
John 15:12
“That ye love one another - See on Joh 13:34 (note). So deeply was thus commandment engraved on the heart of this evangelist that St. Jerome says, lib. iii. c. 6, Com. ad Galat., that in his extreme old age, when he used to be carried to the public assemblies of the believers, his constant saying was, Little children, love one another.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
John 15:12
“Do we fail to love according to the commandment of the Lord? Then we lose the distinctive mark imprinted on us. Are we puffed up till almost bursting with empty pride and arrogance? Then we fall into the inevitable condemnation of the devil.”
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · LETTER 56patristic
Greater love has no one than this: The weight falls on laying down the life more than on the word friends. A life is the most a man has to give. Abba Poemen applied the saying to daily life, where bearing a complaint without complaining back lays down the life for a neighbour.
John 15:13
“Greater love hath ... - No higher expression of love could be given. Life is the most valuable object we possess; and when a man is willing to lay that down for his friends or his country, it shows the utmost extent of love. Even this love for friends has been rarely witnessed. A very few cases like that of Damon and Pythias have occurred where a man was willing to save the life of his friend by giving his own.”
2 more voices on this verse
John 15:13
“It is love in the highest degree, which is strong as death. [2.] The excellency of the love of Christ beyond all other love. He has not only equaled, but exceeded, the most illustrious lovers. Others have laid down their lives, content that they should be taken from them; but Christ gave up his, was not merely passive, but made it his own act and deed.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John 15:13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends--The emphasis lies not on "friends," but on "laying down his life" for them; that is, "One can show no greater regard for those dear to him than to give his life for them, and this is the love ye shall find in Me."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
John 15:14-15
You are My friends if you do what I command you: Friendship here runs through obedience, and they are His friends as they do what He commands. A servant works without knowing his master's purpose, and these men are told everything the Son learned from the Father. Disclosure measures the new standing.
John 15:14
“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you - On this condition, not otherwise. A thunderbolt for Antinomianism! Who then dares assert that God's love does not at all depend on man's works?”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
John 15:14
OUR Lord Jesus Christ is beyond all comparison the best of friends—a friend in need, a friend indeed. "Friend!" said Socrates, "there is no friend!" But Socrates did not know our Lord Jesus, or he would have added, "except the Savior." In the heart of our Lord Jesus there burns such friendship towards us that all other forms of it are as dim candles to the sun. "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend."
No longer do I call you servants: Servants had been the usual title Jesus gave them, though He called them friends at Luke 12:4 and servants again at 15:20. From here on friends is the ordinary name. A true friend hides nothing.
John 15:15
“I call you not servants - This had been the common title by which he addressed them Mat 10:24-25; Joh 12:26; Joh 13:13; but he had also before this, on one occasion, called them friends Luk 12:4, and on one occasion after this he called them servants, Joh 15:20. He here means that the ordinary title by which he would hence forth address them would be that of friends. The servant knoweth not ... - He receives the command of his master without knowing the reason why this or that thing is ordered.”
John 15:16-17
The choosing runs from Jesus, and the appointment with it. They go out to bear fruit that lasts past the branch that bore it. The prayer promise is tied to that fruit, and the command to love one another closes the unit.
John 15:16
“Ye have not chosen me - Ye have not elected me as your Teacher: I have called you to be my disciples; witnesses and depositories of the truth. It was customary among the Jews for every person to choose his own teacher. And ordained you - Rather, I have appointed you: the word is εθηκα, I have Put or placed you, i.e. in the vine.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
John 15:16
“It is fit that Christ should have the choosing of his own ministers; still he does it by his providence and Spirit. Though ministers make that holy calling their own choice, Christ's choice is prior to theirs and directs and determines it. Of all that are chosen to grace and glory it may be said, They have not chosen Christ, but he had chosen them, Deut. vii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
This is My command to you: This is the third time in the discourse that Jesus presses love among the disciples. He spoke of laying down His life and of choosing them to lead them into friendship, never to reproach them. The world's hatred follows at once.
John 15:17
“The passage before us opens with a renewed exhortation to brotherly love. For the third time in this discourse our Lord thinks it needful to press this precious grace on the attention of His disciples. Rare, indeed, must genuine charity be, when such repeated mention of it is made! In the present instance the connection in which it stands should be carefully observed. Christian love is placed in contrast to the hatred of the world. We are shown first, in this passage, what true Christians must expect to meet in this world—hatred and persecution.”
If the World Hate You, It Hated Me First
John 15:18-19
If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first: World here is kosmos, humanity set against God, and the world hated Jesus before it hated the disciples. The world loves its own, and these men were chosen out of the world. Being hated is the mark of that choosing.
John 15:18
“The word that speaks to the pleasure of the listeners will flatter rather than benefit the world. But those who obey the words of the Savior will not conduct their ministry in this way. Such a minister will prefer rather to please the Savior, and if the minister incurs hatred from those who have chosen to treat virtue with the utmost hostility, it shall be considered spiritual wealth.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 10patristic
2 more voices on this verse
John 15:18
“If the world hate you - As the followers of Christ were to be exposed to the hatred of the world, it was no small consolation to them to know that that hatred would be only in proportion to their faith and holiness; and that, consequently, instead of being troubled at the prospect of persecution, they should rejoice, because that should always be a proof to them that they were in the very path in which Jesus himself had trod.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
John 15:18
"Keep peace among yourselves, and this will fortify you against the world's quarrels with you." Those that are in the midst of enemies are concerned to hold together. (2.) Observe what is here included. [1.] The world's enmity against the followers of Christ: it hateth them. Note, Whom Christ blesseth the world curseth.
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
I have chosen you out of the world: The disciples' ways run opposite to the world's, so the world hates them as it hated Him. Two worlds stand here, the world God loves and chooses in Christ and the hostile world it is chosen out of. Being loved by the world would have been the worse sign.
John 15:19
“He lightens by His art even that which was most grievous, and gives them unexpected pleasure at that which it was reasonable to suppose would greatly trouble them. For to be hated by any is truly burdensome, because sly injuries and unexpected devices are the result; yet this too is sweet when it happens for the sake of God and righteousness, and it supplies a convincing proof that the man against whom some thus act is not of the world.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 10patristic
1 more voice on this verse
John 15:19
“Because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you - Because your maxims, tempers, actions, are quite opposite to theirs. For the very same reason must the world in all ages hate those who are not of the world.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
John 15:20-21
The saying comes from the footwashing at 13:16 and now carries persecution with it. What they did to the master they will do to the servants, and what they kept of His word they will keep of theirs. The root is ignorance of the One who sent Him.
John 15:20
“If they have kept my saying - Or, doctrine. Whosoever acknowledges me for the Christ will acknowledge you for my ministers. Some translate the passage thus: If they have Watched my sayings, i.e. with an intent to accuse me for something which I have said, they will Watch yours also: therefore be on your guard. Παρατηρειν has this sense, as we have had occasion to observe before; and perhaps τηρειν has the same sense here, as it is much more agreeable to the context.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
John 15:20
“It is the common lot of those who will live godly in Christ Jesus to suffer persecution, 2 Tim. iii. Christ foresaw what ill usage his ambassadors would meet with in the world, and yet, for the sake of those few that by their ministry were to be called out of the world, he sent them forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
because of My name, since they: They will be treated this way because they bear His name and follow Him. Those who treat them so do not know the Father who sent the Son, and will not believe that He sent Him. Suffering for His name is an honour, as Acts 5:41 shows.
John 15:21
“They know not God as he that sent our Lord Jesus, and authorized him to be the great Mediator of the peace. We do not rightly know God if we do not know him in Christ, and those who persecute those whom he sends make it to appear that they know not that he was sent of God. The world hates Christ himself.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John 15:22-25
they have no excuse for their sin: The coming and the speaking took away the excuse, prophasis in Greek, a covering held over the deed. The works no one else did are laid beside the words as a second ground of guilt. The line quoted comes from the Psalms, 35:19 and 69:4.
John 15:22
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin--comparatively none; all other sins being light compared with the rejection of the Son of God. now they have no cloak for their sin--rather, "pretext."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
John 15:22
“But now they have no cloke for their sin - (margin: Or, excuse) They are without excuse. See the note on Joh 9:41. Christ had done such works as demonstrated him to be the Messiah - yet they rejected him: here lay their sin; and this sin, and the punishment to which it exposed them, still remain; for they still continue to reject the Lord that bought them.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
John 15:22
“THE PECULIAR SIN of the Jews, the sin which aggravated above everything their former iniquities, was their rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. He had been very plainly described in the books of the prophets, and they who waited for him, such as Simeon and Anna, no sooner beheld him even in his infant state, than they rejoiced to see him, and understood that God had sent forth his salvation.”
Whoever hates Me hates My Father: Jesus calls God His own Father here, a relation no one else shares. His opponents claimed to persecute Him on the Father's behalf, and the verse takes that plea away. Unbelief carries the same hatred in it.
John 15:23
“He makes a definite charge of atheism against those who choose, in the impiety of their minds and the estrangement of their hearts, to hate Him. And the charge is a true one. For those who dishonour the Son will not be guiltless of transgression against the Father, convinced of the justice of their hatred.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 10patristic
2 more voices on this verse
John 15:23
“He that hateth me ... - To show them that this was no slight crime, he reminds them that a rejection of himself is also a rejection of God. Such is the union between them, that no one can hate the one without also hating the other. See Joh 5:19-20; Joh 14:7, Joh 14:9.”
John 15:23
“He that hateth me - As every unbeliever doth, For as the love of God is inseparable from faith, so is the hatred of God from unbelief.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
the works that no one else did: Prophets had also raised the dead, so what sets these works apart from all others done among them? They surpass in number and in kind, healing great multitudes and every disease. They have seen them and hated both Him and His Father.
John 15:24
“The works which none other man did - The miracles of Jesus surpassed those of Moses and the prophets: 1. In their number. He healed great multitudes, and no small part of his life was occupied in doing good by miraculous power. 2. In their nature. They involved a greater exertion of power. He healed all forms of disease. He showed that his power was superior to all kinds of pain. He raised Lazarus after he had been four days dead.”
Their Law here means the whole of what is written in their Scriptures, and the line comes from David's complaint against his enemies. The same words are fulfilled in the treatment of the Messiah, who broke no law and wronged no one. The hatred had no reason.
John 15:25
“IT IS usually understood, that the quotation our Saviour here refers to is to be found in the 35th Psalm, at the 19th verse, where David says, speaking of himself immediately and of the Saviour prophetically, “Let not them who are mine enemies rejoice over me, neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.” Our Saviour refers to that as being applicable to himself, and thus he really tells us, in effect, that many of the Psalms are Messianic, or refer to the Messiah; and, therefore, Dr.”
Cross references
John 15:25
- QuotingPsalms 69:4“Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; many are those who would destroy me— my enemies for no reason. Though I did not steal, I must repay.”
'They hated me without a cause' ('that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law', w/ Ps 35:19)
ConnectionsPsalms 69:4
John 15:26-27
The Son sends the Advocate from the Father, and the Spirit of truth proceeds from the Father. His work named here is testimony, and He testifies about Jesus. The eleven testify as well, having been with Him from the beginning.
John 15:26
“So the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and bears witness of the Son. A witness, both faithful and true, bears witness also of the Father. There is no more complete expression of the divine majesty, nothing more clear regarding the unity of divine power than this, since the Spirit knows the same as the Son, who is the witness and the inseparable sharer of the Father's secrets.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Holy Spirit 1.1.25patristic
2 more voices on this verse
John 15:26
“And that he proceeds from the Son, as well as from the Father, may be fairly argued from his being called the Spirit of Christ, 1 Pet. i, 11; and from his being here said to be sent by Christ from the Father, as well as sent by the Father in his name.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
John 15:26
“But when the Comforter is come - See on Joh 14:16 (note). 15:26-27He shall testify and ye also shall bear witness - He shall bear his testimony in your souls, and ye shall bear this testimony to the world. And so they did, by their miracles, their preaching, their writings, their lives, and by their deaths. Our Lord appears to reason thus: In every respect the unbelief of the Jews is inexcusable. They believe not my doctrine, notwithstanding its purity and holiness.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
And you also must testify: The Greek can be read as you are witnesses, which puts the weight on the years they have already spent with Him. That beginning is the start of His public ministry. The Spirit testifies, and they testify with Him.
John 15:27
“Ye also shall bear witness - You shall be witnesses to the world to urge on them the evidences that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah. Have been with me - They had for more than three years seen his works, and were therefore qualified to bear witness of his character and doctrines. From the beginning - From his entrance on the public work of the ministry, Mat 4:17-22. Compare Act 1:21-22.”
How this psalm is built
The form: A parable, in which the general lesson is the main thing and the minor details are left unpressed, as Ryle classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Remain, said again and again | The verb remain stands twelve times in the Berean text of this chapter, first in the vine figure and then in the love of the Father and the Son. The site's published exposition of verses 4 and 5 records that remain translates meno, the word that carries the whole chapter.This site's published exposition of John 15:4 to 5, The exposition_notes row on John 15:4 to 5, citing A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, and J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, John. | John 15:4, John 15:5, John 15:6, John 15:7, John 15:9, John 15:10, John 15:16 |
| Cut off, pruned, clean | Verse 2 sets two verbs side by side, airei for the fruitless branch taken away and kathairei for the fruitful branch pruned, and verse 3 calls the disciples katharoi, clean, from the same root. The site's published exposition of verses 2 and 3 records both links.This site's published exposition of John 15:2 and 15:3, The exposition_notes rows on John 15:2 and 15:3, citing John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament, Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, and Brooke Foss Westcott, The Gospel according to St. John. | John 15:2, John 15:3 |
| Love one another, then the hatred of the world | The command to love one another stands at verse 12 and again at verse 17, and verse 18 turns at once to the hatred of the world. J. C. Ryle marks the setting: this is the third time in the discourse that love is pressed, and here Christian love is placed against the hatred of the world.J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, John, on John 15:17. | John 15:12, John 15:17, John 15:18 |
| Servants and friends | Verse 15 sets the two titles against each other, and verse 20 calls the disciples servants again when it speaks of persecution. Albert Barnes notes that servants had been the usual title, and reads friends as the ordinary name from this night on.Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels, on John 15:15. | John 15:15, John 15:20 |
Where the picture comes from
10 more paragraphs on the patterns
The site's published exposition of verse 1 sets the figure beside Psalm 80:8 and Isaiah 5, where Israel is the vine God planted and the fruit is worthless. Matthew Henry adds Judah's vine of Genesis 49 as a type of the true vine (Commentary on the Whole Bible, on John 15:1). Augustine of Hippo holds that Christ is called a vine by likeness, as He is also called a lamb, a lion and a rock (Tractates on John 80).
Where the figure was spoken
The readers differ on what set the picture before the disciples. Albert Barnes records the view that the discourse was spoken in the room of the supper, where the wine gave the occasion (Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels, on John 15:1). Adam Clarke suggests that vines along the road to Gethsemane gave rise to it (Commentary on the Bible, on John 15:1). Each position is stated by its holder and the page settles neither.
The debated reading: the branch that is thrown away
Verse 6 speaks of a branch that is thrown away, withers and is burned. Albert Barnes reads it of those who profess religion without any true connection with Christ (Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels, on John 15:6). Adam Clarke reads it of a person truly united to Christ and afterward cut off for bearing no fruit (Commentary on the Bible, on John 15:6).
John Wesley holds that a man may remain in Christ by church communion only, wither all the while and be cast out at last (Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on John 15:6). J. C. Ryle warns that the minor details of a parable should never be pressed to extract a meaning (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, John, on John 15:1).
Where the Old Testament is quoted
Verse 25 cites a line from their Law, They hated Me without reason. Albert Barnes and Charles Spurgeon point to Psalm 35:19, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown and Adam Clarke to Psalm 69:4, a psalm this Gospel also applies to Jesus at 2:17.
What the chapter hands forward
The Advocate of verse 26 is sent by the Son from the Father, and 16:7 to 15 sets out His work. The warning of hatred at verses 18 to 25 runs straight into the warning of expulsion and death at 16:1 to 4.
Keep studying
Studies17
Words12
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John 80, on John 15:1; J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, John, on John 15:1 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on John 15:1.
The exposition
A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God; Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels; Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, John; Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy 3.22.135; Augustine of Hippo; Brooke Foss Westcott, The Gospel according to St. John; Charles Spurgeon; Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks; Hilary of Poitiers, ON THE TRINITY 6.30; J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, John; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel according to John; John Chrysostom; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.