John 15:2
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
(uma) He takes away. This is a poor translation; a better one is “He lifts up.” The word for take is airo which means to lift, pick or raise up and this is how the word is translated in many other places (e.g., Mark 16:18, Luke 5:24, 17:13, John 11:41, Acts 4:24, Rev. 10:5). Unfruitful branches are lifted out of the dirt and redressed so that their only source of life can come from the vine.
The reason why some Christians are barren is that they’re trying to draw life from the world instead of drawing from the life-giving Vine. They are busy, distracted, stressed, and have wandered from their primary love. When believers lose sight of Christ’s love they tend to become religious and busy (Rev. 2:4-5).
The remedy is to remember the height from which you have fallen and to allow God the Gardener to lift you back up to the high places of his love. As you bask in his love, you will bear his fruit effortlessly.
Leitura adicional: “Are unfruitful branches lifted up?”
(b) He prunes. Our Father trims away those time-wasting, energy-sapping distractions that hinder our spiritual growth and the result is we become healthier and more fruitful.
John 15:4
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
Abide in Me. To abide in Christ is to rest in his love (John 15:9). It’s living with the complete dependence that a branch has for a vine and realizing that apart from him we can do nothing. See entrada for Abiding.
John 15:5
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
I am the vine, you are the branches. What a wonderful picture of our total dependence on Christ. Our union with the Lord is the source of our very life (Gal. 2:20, Eph. 2:5, Col. 3:4). Apart from him we can do nothing, but in him we truly live and move and have our being.
See entrada para União.
John 15:6
“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
(uma) Anyone. Jesus has been talking to you disciples (believers) who are already clean (John 15:3). He now widens his discussion to anyone (unbelievers who choose not to abide).
(b) Abide in Me; see entrada for John 15:4.
(c) Branch. The cut off branches are those who do not believe in Jesus. This includes the nation of Israel who rejected the Lord and cut themselves off on account of their unbelief (see entrada for Rom. 11:17).
(d) Cast into the fire. Those who worry that the Lord will cast away backsliding or under-performing Christians can take comfort in his promises to never cast away those who come to him (e.g., John 6:37). Those who have been born again cannot be unborn. Those who have been made new creations cannot be unmade. If you prove faithless, he will remain faithful (2 Tim. 2:13). There are more than 130 promises guaranteeing the eternal security of the believer.
(e) Fire. The ungodly and all those things that are opposed to God’s goodness will be destroyed by fire (2 Pet. 2:6, 3:7).
Fire is Old Testament image associated with divine judgment (Is. 66:15–16, Oba. 1:18, Zeph. 3:8, Mal. 4:1). Jesus often spoke of fire in connection with Judgment Day (Matt. 5:22, 13:42, 50, 18:9, 25:41, Mark 9:43, Luke 17:29–30, John 15:6). He did not dread this fire but he looked forward to it knowing that it would spell the end of sin and usher in eternity (see entrada para Lucas 12:49).
John 15:7
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
(uma) Abide. Rest in his love (John 15:9). When we rest in the love of Christ and his word is rooted in our hearts, his desires become our desires. As a result, we bear his fruit and we pray righteous prayers.
(b) Ask. Asking is how we receive (Jas. 4:2). Our Father wants us to ask because asking cultivates dependency and intimacy.
(c) Whatever you wish. When you are living from your union with the Lord, you can be confident that the desires of your heart are from the Lord (Ps. 37:4).
(d) It will be done because you have prayed according to the will of God. When we align our faith with the promises of God, good things happen.
Prayers go unanswered for one of two reasons; they are not asked or they are asked with wrong motives (Jas. 4:2–3).
John 15:9
“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
(uma) The Father has loved Me. The original word for love means to be well pleased or fond of or contented with. It describes the unconditional love God the Father has for his Son (John 3:35, 17:26), for the whole world (John 3:16), and for his children (Eph. 2:4, 1 John 3:1). God loves you with the same sort of love he has for Jesus (see entrada for John 17:23).
(b) Abide in my love. Under the old law-keeping covenant, you were commanded to love the Lord your God with all your heart (Deut. 6:5, 10:12). The flow was from you to the Lord. But in the new covenant of grace, we love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). It is because we know the love of Christ (Eph. 3:19) that we are able to walk in his love (Eph. 5:2), keep ourselves in his love (Jude 1:21), and remain in his love (John 15:9, 10, 1 John 4:12, 16).
John 15:10
“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.
(uma) If you keep My commandments. Obedience is a fruit of trusting Jesus (1 John 3:23).
In the new covenant, obedience follows trust, and we trust him because we know him. However, someone with an old covenant mindset reverses the order: “If you wish to know him, you must keep his commandments.” Perversely, this mindset will have the very opposite effect as it will cause you to trust in yourself while alienating you from Christ (Gal. 5:4).
(b) My Father; see entrada for John 4:21.
(c) My Father’s commandments. God commands us to believe in Jesus and love one another (1 John 3:23)
In contrast with the heavy yoke of Moses (Act 15:10), the yoke of Jesus is light (Matt. 11:30). “His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3
(d) Abide in his love. To abide in the love of the Father is to abide in the love of Jesus (see previous verse).
John 15:12
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
(uma) My commandment. Christ’s command to love one another is sometimes referred to as the law of Christ (1 Cor. 9:21, Gal. 6:2), or the new commandment (John 13:34, 1 John 2:8, 2 John 1:5).
(b) Even as I have loved you. In the new covenant of grace, we love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).
Jesus was once asked to name the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus replied that the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matt. 22:36-38). Note that this is the greatest commandment in the law. Under the law-keeping covenant, the flow was from you to the Lord (Deut. 6:5, 10:12). You loved God because it was a law that came with consequences. But in the new covenant of grace, we love one another with the same love that Christ loved us.
Leitura adicional: “What is the law of Christ?”
John 15:13
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
Greater love. By definition the agape-love of God is unconditional and self-sacrificing (Eph. 5:2, 25, 1 John 3:16). God will never make you jump through hoops to earn his love. He won’t love you any more if you succeed and he won’t love you any less if you fail. There is nothing you can do to make him love you more, and nothing you can do to make him love you less.
See entrada for The Love of God.
John 15:15
“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
I have called you friends. Jesus called his disciples “friends” and not “brothers” because they remained outside of the family of God. They were not yet Christians and could not become so until Jesus was raised from the dead (see Rom. 10:9). It is good to be God’s friend, but it’s even better to be his child. Our adoption into the new creation family of God is only possible because of what Christ accomplished on the cross.
John 15:16
“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
Whatever you ask. The God Jesus revealed is a listening and responsive Father (Matt. 6:8, 7:11, 18:19, Luke 11:13, John 16:23, 26). He hears your prayers and knows your needs even before you ask him (Matt 6:8).
John 15:20
“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
Persecute. The original verb diōkō, which is related to the Greek verb diō (meaning “to flee”), has both positive and negative meanings depending on the context. In a positive context, it means “to pursue” or “strive for.” We are to pursue love (1 Cor. 14:1), pursue righteousness (1 Tim. 6:11), and pursue the things which make for peace (Rom. 14:19). In a negative context, it means “to persecute, harass, or oppress” (e.g., Matt. 5:10–12). It can also mean “to drive out or expel” (e.g., Matt. 23:24).
John 15:25
“But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.’
Written in their Law. Jesus is quoting Psalm 35:19 or 69:4. The Psalms do not form part of the Law of Moses or the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). Jesus is referring to the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament. For similar examples, see John 10:34, 12:34 and 1 Cor. 14:21.
John 15:26
“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,
The Helper is the Holy Spirit; see entrada for John 14:16.
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Navegador de capítulos
- John 15:2
- John 15:4
- John 15:5
- John 15:6
- John 15:7
- John 15:9
- John 15:10
- John 15:12
- John 15:13
- John 15:15
- John 15:16
- John 15:20
- John 15:25
- John 15:26
Thank you so much for you commentary on John 15:2! Reading it was so life-giving for me today. I’ve been wondering and meditating on John 15:2 where Jesus said every branch IN ME does not bear fruit, He TAKES AWAY. WHY would a branch IN JESUS not bear fruit?? and so harsh that it gets taken away! BUT! here’s what “takes away” means–>He lifts up, pick up, raise up! THANK YOU LORD JESUS! Even when I get distracted and even busy with religious things, and inevitably feel empty, Jesus LIFTS me up! REMEMBER your first love Rev. 2:4-5.
I’m there too this was very encouraging and helps me to be a better version of His hands and feet. To love better, to love in truth with the Love He produces as a stay connected to Him!