John 15

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener who takes care of the vineyard.

1I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

NoteThe vine was a standing image for the people of Israel in the Hebrew scriptures (Isaiah 5, Psalm 80, Jeremiah 2), usually in passages complaining that the vine yielded nothing worth having. "True" here means real or genuine, the actual thing the older image pointed at. "Husbandman" is 1611 English for a farmer; the Greek word means specifically the man who works a vineyard, whether he owns it or tends it for someone else. Jesus is still speaking privately to his disciples on the night before his death, the conversation that began in chapter 13.

2He cuts off every branch joined to me that bears no fruit. And every branch that does bear fruit, he trims back, so it will bear even more fruit.

2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Note"Purgeth" has shifted badly since 1611. It then meant simply to clean, and applied to a vine it means to prune: cutting back last season's wood so the plant's strength goes into fruit rather than foliage. The Greek verb behind "taketh away" is also open. It can mean remove or carry off, and it can mean lift up, and some readers take it as a vinedresser raising trailing branches off the ground rather than cutting them out. The wording does not settle which.

3You are already clean because of the message I have spoken to you.

3Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Note"Clean" is the adjective built on the same Greek root as the verb rendered "purgeth" in verse 2, so the sentence is still inside the pruning picture: pruned and therefore clean. "Word" means the whole message he has spoken to them, not a single word.

4Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it has to stay on the vine. It is the same with you: you cannot bear fruit unless you stay joined to me.

4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

Note"Abide" in 1611 means to stay, to remain, to go on living in a place. It does not carry the modern senses found in "abide by a rule" or "cannot abide him." It is the governing verb of this whole passage and returns again and again through the chapter.

5I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever stays joined to me, while I stay in him, bears a great deal of fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.

5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Note"Without me" in 1611 English means apart from me, cut off from me, in the way a severed branch is without the vine. It does not mean merely lacking something.

6If anyone does not stay joined to me, he is thrown out like a broken-off branch and dries up. People gather up branches like that, throw them into the fire, and they burn.

6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

NoteVine wood is useless as timber, too soft and twisted for building or tools and not worth keeping, so prunings were simply gathered and burned. The hearers would be picturing routine vineyard housekeeping at the end of a season.

7If you stay joined to me, and my words stay in you, ask for whatever you want, and it will be done for you.

7If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Note"Ye shall ask what ye will" is not a prediction about the future. In the Greek "ask" is a command: ask for whatever you want. "What ye will" means whatever you wish, "will" here being the verb to want.

8This is how my Father is given honor: that you bear a great deal of fruit, and in this way you will be my disciples.

8Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

Note"Glorified" translates a verb meaning to be given weight, honor and public reputation. "So shall ye be my disciples" is genuinely ambiguous in the Greek and can mean either "and so you will become my disciples" or "and so you will show yourselves to be my disciples." A disciple was a learner attached to a particular teacher, living alongside him and taking his way of life as well as his instruction.

9The Father has loved me, and I have loved you in the same way. Stay in my love.

9As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

Note"Continue ye in my love" uses the same Greek verb translated "abide" through the rest of the chapter. It is the same instruction as verse 4, not a different one; the KJV has simply varied its English.

10If you keep my commands, you will stay in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and stay in his love.

10If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

Note"Keep" in 1611 means to observe, guard and hold to, that is, to obey. "Commandments" are instructions given with authority, not advice.

11I have told you these things so that my joy will be in you, and so that your joy will be complete.

11These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

Note"Full" here means filled to the brim, complete, with nothing still missing. The Greek verb is the one used of filling a container.

12This is my command: love one another the way I have loved you.

12This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

13No one has greater love than this: to give up his own life for his friends.

13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Note"Lay down his life" is an idiom for dying deliberately and by choice, the Greek suggesting a man setting something down of his own accord rather than having it taken. "No man" means no person at all; 1611 English used "man" for a human being of either sex.

14You are my friends if you do what I command you.

14Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

15From now on I do not call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I heard from my Father.

15Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Note"Servants" translates a Greek word meaning slaves, people owned by a household rather than hired and free to leave, and "lord" here means simply the master who owns them. The contrast is between someone kept in the dark about his owner's business and a friend let in on it. "Heard of my Father" uses "of" in its older sense of from.

16You did not choose me. I chose you, and I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask him for in my name.

16Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

NoteIn the world these men knew, a student normally sought out and attached himself to a teacher, so "ye have not chosen me" reverses the expected arrangement. "Ordained" in 1611 means appointed or put in place for a purpose and carries none of the later church sense of ordaining clergy. Asking "in my name" means asking as his representatives and on his authority; a person's name stood for the person himself and for the standing he had.

17This is what I command you: love one another.

17These things I command you, that ye love one another.

18If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before it hated you.

18If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

Note"The world" in John's Gospel usually means human society as it runs itself, the whole settled arrangement of people and their loyalties, rather than the planet or the natural order.

19If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. But you do not belong to the world. I chose you out of the world, and that is why the world hates you.

19If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Note"The world would love his own" uses "his" where modern English says "its." In 1611 the possessive "its" was still new and unsettled, and "his" did duty for neuter things as well. The sense is that the world loves whatever belongs to it.

20Remember what I told you: a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too. If they obeyed my word, they will obey yours too.

20Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

Note"Kept my saying" means obeyed my message; "keep" again in the older sense of observe and hold to. The line "the servant is not greater than his lord" is a proverb Jesus had already used in this same evening's conversation, when he washed their feet (John 13:16).

21But they will do all these things to you because of my name, since they do not know the One who sent me.

21But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.

Note"For my name's sake" means on account of me, because of your attachment to me. The name stands for the person, so to suffer for the name is to suffer for belonging to him.

22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

22If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.

Note"They had not had sin" is older English for "they would not have had sin"; the KJV uses a plain past perfect where modern English needs "would have." "Have sin" is a Greek idiom meaning to carry guilt, to be answerable, rather than to commit any one act. "Cloak" means a covering thrown over something to hide it, hence a pretext or excuse; the Greek word means exactly that, an excuse to hide behind.

23Whoever hates me hates my Father too.

23He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

24If I had not done works among them that no one else has ever done, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.

24If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

Note"Works" means the deeds he performed among them, the things John's Gospel elsewhere calls signs. The construction "they had not had sin" is the same older past perfect as in verse 22, meaning "they would not have had sin."

25But this happened so that what is written in their law would come true: 'They hated me for no reason.'

25But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

Note"Their law" here covers the whole body of Hebrew scripture, not just the books of Moses; the quoted line comes from the Psalms (35:19, or 69:4). Calling it "their law" points at the fact that the words stand in their own book.

26But when the Helper comes, he will speak about me and tell what he knows. I will send him to you from the Father. He is the Spirit of truth, who comes from the Father.

26But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

Note"Comforter" translates the Greek parakletos, which literally means someone called to stand beside you. In a legal setting it meant an advocate who speaks up for you; in 1611 "comfort" carried more of the sense of strengthening than of soothing. No single English word covers it, which is why translations vary between Comforter, Helper, Advocate and Counselor. "Testify" is courtroom language for giving evidence as a witness. "Which proceedeth" uses "which" of a person, normal in 1611 where modern English says "who."

27And you must tell people about me too, because you have been with me from the beginning.

27And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

Note"Bear witness" is the same courtroom word translated "testify" in verse 26, so the two verses together picture a trial in which both the Spirit and these men give evidence. "From the beginning" means from the start of Jesus' public work, when these particular men first joined him, not the beginning of the world.