John 15

Introduction

• We see “remain” language (mone) appear twelve times in this chapter.
  a. 14:10—The idea of indwelling is in the background of chapter 15.
  b. Isaiah 5:1-7, 27:2-6; Hosea 10:1-2; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 15:1-8, 19:10-14—The vine was a regular symbol for Israel, both positive and negative.
  c. Jesus is now the way of contact with God because He remains with the disciples through the Paraclete.

John 15:1-8

• 15:1-2—What is meant behind this idea of pruning?
  a. Katharizo—“to cleanse,” Greek
  b. 1 John 2:4—Those who claim to love God but do not actually follow Him are liars (Rudolph, p. 306).
  i. Colossians 2:8—There was a concern about false teaching in Colossae.
  ii. Colossians 1:6-14—Loyalty to God is evident in the “fruit” we produce (Melick, p. 203-204).
• 15:3-4—This is language of the Cross that compels us to remain in Christ so that we may be faithful.
  a. The Cross is the place where God’s nature becomes clear in human history.
  b. 20:19-23—That nature is received in Christ breathing the Paraclete into His disciples.
• 15:5; cf., 5:19 and 30; 2 Corinthians 3:5—The Church can do nothing apart from Christ just as Christ can do nothing apart from God.
  a. 15:6; cf., 1 John 2:18-19—Those who do not remain in the Church destroy the Church (Beasley-Murray, p. 273)!
  b. Does this mean that persecution could be a form of “pruning?”
  c. 15:7-8; cf., 14:12-14—This is not a “blank check” for prayer, but a word about mission.
  i. To John, love for one another and a desire for mission are inseparable (Talbert, p. 222).
  ii. The “remaining” that glorifies God is continuing in the character, nature, and mission of God.
  iii. Some say that our love for one another has been watered down into neighbor love, but this love is mutual and reciprocated.

John 15:9-17

• 15:9-12—Jesus is not one of power but of trust because the giving up of His psuche led to the receiving of His zoe (Brown, 1970, p. 681-682).
  a. Matt. 26:29; Mark 14:25; 1 Cor. 10:16-17—Eucharistic references to the vine and its fruit.
  i. Is the Eucharist linked to the “love command?”
  ii. There is an Old Testament-era idea that we should be thankful for God giving us the fruit of the vine (Brown, 1970, p. 672-674).
  b. 15:13; cf., 10:11; 13:4—This is similar to Jesus laying down His cloak and the Good Shepherd laying down His life.
• 15:14-15; 1:16-18—Friends have intimate access to one another, thus the revelation of God has been made complete through the Incarnation.
• 15:16—This is another reference to mission.
• 15:17—There is nothing here about hiring ad agencies; it is a call to trust God as we preach the message of the Cross.
  a. The Cross is not a tactic; it is the revelation of God’s nature and is the message for the Church (Forde, p. 2-4).
  b. Carl Holladay (Emory University) says, “Whenever the message of caring is separated from the message of preaching, both suffer.”

John 15:18-27

• Matthew 5:10-12, 10:22, 24:9—Persecution validates the Church’s mission!
• John 15:21—People who do not know the One who sent Jesus will hate Him. Thus, if there do not know Jesus, they will hate His disciples.
• 15:22—This does not say that God ignores our sins (Morris, p. 604).
• 15:23—One cannot reject Jesus and still love God.
• 15:25—This was a crafted indictment against those who expelled Jewish Christians from the synagogue.
• 15:26-27—A word about our Advocate.
  a. The filioque controversy finds its roots in this passage.
  b. 14:26—The work of the Paraclete is closely linked with the work of the Son in that the Paraclete will provide memories of insights into the life and teachings of Jesus.

References

G. R. Beasley-Murray, John, Word Biblical Commentary 36 (Waco, TX: Word, 1987).

Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John XIII-XXI, Anchor Bible 29a (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970).

Gerhard O. Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997).

Richard R. Melick, Jr., Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, New American Commentary, vol. 32 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1991).

Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, rev. ed., New International Commentary on the New Testament 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995).

Kurt Rudoplh, Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1983).

Charles H. Talbert, Reading John: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Fourth Gospel and the Johannine Epistles, rev. ed., Reading the New Testament (Macon, GA: Smyth and Helwys, 2005).